8/19/23 - Day 67 - Things are still looking good. We just had a water change. A couple more weeks! 8/21/23 - OK, ok ok, we have a lot of work coming up. Right now is like the calm before the storm. The storm I'm talking about is harvest, trimming, drying, and curing. This is the kind of labor that you LOVE to HATE. Especially with how many buds ill be pulling from this LEAF box. Let's talk about progress real fast. She is getting bulkier every day. Overnight she drank about 300+ ppm of nutes. She likes the nutes a lot. I'm taking this as a reason for all the little snowy crystals and the enlargement of the buds. Flushing: For about a week before harvest I will empty the water+Nutes and refill only with Water. We want the plant to suck up and replace all the nutes in the buds with water. This is called flushing. Trimming plans and Tools: When it's time to trim the plant, I've got a plan in mind. I'm going to trim the buds while they're still wet, and I'll leave them attached to the stems. To simplify the drying process, I will split the LEAF into two parts – the top and the bottom. Since space is a bit tight in the LEAF with this grow, I will keep just the buds on the branches. This will help the air circulate the buds better. I've even found this cool trimming tray on Amazon that I'm planning to use. I've realized that having the right tools for trimming is essential. Just like I'd put on gloves to work on a car, I will use nitrile gloves to keep things clean while trimming. And I'll use proper trimming scissors instead of regular ones. These scissors are designed for this job and should make the process much smoother. Amazon - Trimming Tray - (somewherr brand pictured above) Amazon - Nitrile Gloves Amazon - Trimming Scissors Drying Plans and Tools: Once I'm done trimming, it's time to dry the buds. I'm thinking of using simple tension rods, like those small shower curtain rods, to hang the branches. This way, I can create two levels inside the drying box. The lower part can rest on a SCROG net to ensure good airflow and even drying for all the branches. The LEAF box will handle the drying parameters. The environment inside the LEAF box will focus only on keeping the humidity at 60% and moving the air around getting the buds to a non-mildew amount of humidity. Amazon - Tension rods 16-28” Curing Plans and Tools After the buds are dry (60% humidity), the next step is curing. This means I'll be storing the buds in sealed glass jars. I've got mason jars and hygrometers to monitor humidity levels. Once the jars are filled with buds, I'll seal them and put them in an cool, dark spot. I plan to open the jars briefly every day to let in some fresh air. (15min). I'll know the curing is done when the humidity inside the jars stays around 62% during these "burps." That's when my perfectly cured buds will be ready to enjoy! Amazon - Hygrometer 12 Pack Target - 32oz Ball Mason Jars 12 Pack I use a smell-proof duffle bag. It has double zippers, and smell prof lining. The brand is www.420stock.com, and the model I use is the X-Large Trap Pax Duffle Bag. 8/23/23 - 20% more nutrients were added. She went from about 900 at the beginning of the week to about 330. Now she's back up to 500ppms. We change the water in one more day. 8/24/23 - Day 72 - It's official: I have moved the smell slider up! Holy shit, does it smell potent. I put my arm in there through the Weed forest, and when my arms came out, I was attacked by the Skunk BOSS. I had to shower and change my outfit to eliminate the smell. If you are looking for this experience, check out https://www.getleaf.co/