Day 71, 19.06.2024
As the new and possibly last week of blooming arrives I am looking at two ladies, that behaved quite well during the last weeks. They grew close and it will be a shame to cut them down in the end. However, what must be done, must be done right?
Today there will be the second to last nutrition intake for them. I decided to cut the BioBizz Grow and CalMag completely so they will receive 600ml of 4/4ml (Bloom/TopMax) later today.
Also today I saw the first amber trichomes through my pocket microscope. But not enough yet - maybe I will stop feeding nutes after todays "last supper" and start flushing...
Day 72, 20.06.2024
No action today.
Day 73, 21.06.2024
600ml of water each - no nutes. I think it might be the big finale. I am thinking about harvest next and watching a lot of YouTube about that topic 😂
Day 74, 22.06.2024
No action on the plants but to give them a check up. I finally see the first amber trichomes on both of the plants, woohoo 🙌
Removed 3-5 fan leafs that were starting to get yellow.
Time to make up a plan for the harvest I guess!
Currently the plan is
- to do harvest in 4 days from today in the evening (Wednesday, 26.06. ~1700).
- I stop watering immediately - no more soup for you! Maybe I did not do flushing long enough, but my hope is that using organic fertilizer eases the effects
- I will not switch off the lights on Monday at 1100 (like usual). Instead I will keep it on until 1700 - then switch them off completely.
- 48h later on Wednesday I will harvest
I do all this to inflict stress to the ladies. Stress by low water, stress by longer light followed by stress due to no light at all. All this will hopefully lead the plants to
1. produce more trichomes as a defensive reaction and build up bud mass
2. urges the plant to process as much chlorophyll as possible which leads to better taste in the end
So much for the plan. Let's see how this turns out.
Day 75, 23.06.2024
The good thing about not watering anymore: No action today. But as today would mark the "point of no return" in a way I will double or even triple check for the trichomes. If they are ready, I will commence the plan of not watering and longer lighting tomorrow. If there is doubt I will shift the plan day by day.
Aaand here it is: Doubt! After checking the trichomes again I found too much of them clear. I decided to not rush things and thus postpone the harvest for at least 3 days. So today there will be a (late) flush and we will take it from there.
Day 76, 24.06.2024
No real action today but to check in trichomes. Erika II has a good number of amber trichomes while Erika I still has too mich clear ones. It's a dilemma. But I will hold on to the plan for now which says: Harvest will be on the weekend (friday presumably)!
Day 77, 25.06.2024
Today we reached 30°C outside and it is (finally) getting summer here in germany. This resulted in 28°C inside the tent & it felt good to give the ladies some craved water: ~1000ml went in the pots before the drain started. This was definetly the last drink. Tomorrow the last light cycle will start.
Today is tuesday. The plan for harvest is as follows:
Wednesday: No action.
Thursday: Lights out at 1100. They stay off until the end.
Friday: Harvest will begin at around 16:30 after work. Both plants will be harvested & hung up for drying.
I am thinking about doing one plant using wet-tim and one plant using dry-trim techniques, just to have the comparison right after the first grow. I guess I need to make up my mind about that...