# The Frozen Archive #1 ❄️📚 ## First Steps Into Ice & Water Extraction | Unboxing, First Washes & New Beginnings Hello GrowDiaries family! 👋❄️🌱 Welcome to the very first entry of a new series that I have wanted to start for a long time. Today we begin The Frozen Archive. This series will follow our journey through fresh frozen material, ice & water extraction, solventless concentrates, curing experiments, storage methods, and everything that happens between harvest and the final product. The goal is simple: To create an honest archive that allows both the community and myself to follow the evolution of these extractions over time. Some entries will focus on specific genetics. Others will focus on techniques, equipment, observations, and experiments. This first entry is all about beginnings. And like many beginnings, it starts with learning. --- ## A Huge Thank You To Zamnesia Before anything else, a huge thank you to Zamnesia for providing the Bubbleator machine and for making this new chapter possible. The machine arrived extremely well packaged and protected. Everything inside the box was carefully wrapped and secured, ensuring that every component arrived in perfect condition. Alongside the machine were accessories, filtration bags, instructions, and everything required to begin exploring the world of machine-assisted ice & water extraction. As someone who has performed hand washes in the past but never worked with a machine like this before, I was genuinely excited to finally put it to work. This is my first documented experience using a Bubbleator. There will be successes. There will be mistakes. There will be lessons. And all of them will become part of this archive. --- ## What Is Fresh Frozen? Before we begin the extraction process itself, it is important to explain what fresh frozen material actually is. Instead of drying and curing the flowers after harvest, the material is frozen immediately after being processed. This helps preserve many of the volatile compounds that can be lost during drying and curing. The goal is to capture the plant as close as possible to its living state. In this case, the material being used comes from the previous run, which many of you have already followed through harvest. Throughout those diaries I intentionally collected and preserved material specifically for these future extractions. Today, that material finally leaves the freezer. --- ## What Is Ice & Water Extraction? Ice & water extraction is one of the most traditional solventless extraction methods available. The concept is beautifully simple. Cold temperatures make the trichome heads brittle. Gentle agitation helps separate those trichomes from the plant material. The resulting mixture is then filtered through a series of micron screens which allow the resin glands to be collected while removing unwanted plant matter. No chemical solvents. No hydrocarbons. No shortcuts. Just ice. Water. Movement. Patience. And trichomes. --- ## The First Wash With the machine prepared, the process could begin. Ice was added. Fresh frozen material was loaded into the 220-micron work bag. More ice was placed on top. Cold water was added. And then the waiting began. Watching the machine start spinning for the first time was exciting. The water slowly changed color as resin and plant material began moving through the system. Temperatures remained extremely cold, hovering around freezing conditions and helping maintain the ideal environment for extraction. This was the first true wash performed with the Bubbleator. Not only were we processing material. We were learning the machine itself. Learning timing. Learning technique. Learning observations. And documenting every step. --- ## Collecting The Resin Once the wash cycle was complete, the water was drained and passed through the filtration system. This is where the magic starts becoming visible. The trichomes that had previously been attached to the flowers now began collecting inside the filtration bags. Seeing those first collections appear is one of those moments that never gets old. The resin was carefully gathered and prepared for drying. Even at this early stage it was already obvious that the material held incredible potential. --- ## Drying & Preparing The Hash After collection, the resin was gently broken apart into smaller pieces to increase surface area and encourage proper drying. Drying remains one of the most important stages of the process. Rushing this step can compromise months of work. Patience here is rewarded later. While the first collections dried, additional washes continued, allowing the extraction process to move forward while the earlier material slowly prepared for its next stage. --- ## Temple Ball Experiments Once properly dried, part of the collected resin was worked into a traditional temple ball. This is one of the oldest and most beautiful forms of hash preservation. Heat. Pressure. Patience. And resin. Nothing more. The resulting temple ball displayed beautiful characteristics. Excellent texture. Wonderful aroma. A clean melt. Beautiful bubbling behavior. And the unmistakable appearance that makes handcrafted temple balls so special. Watching it transform from loose resin into a unified sphere felt almost like watching the extraction complete its final step. --- ## A Second Wash & A Different Approach The second material was processed using the same extraction methodology. Ice. Water. Agitation. Filtration. Collection. Drying. However, this time a different preservation method was chosen. Instead of forming a temple ball, the dried resin was left loose and placed inside a vacuum-sealed bag. All possible air was removed. The goal now is long-term observation. How does this material evolve? How does the aroma change? How does the texture develop? How does it compare to the temple ball? Those questions will be answered in future entries. --- ## This Is Only The Beginning Although this report marks the end of the first extraction session, it is far from the end of the story. The temple ball now begins its cure. The vacuum-sealed resin begins its cure. Additional fresh frozen material remains waiting. More washes are coming. More genetics are coming. More lessons are coming. And every step will become part of The Frozen Archive. For now, this first chapter closes with gratitude. Thank you to Zamnesia for the Bubbleator machine, the genetics, and the opportunity to explore this side of cultivation. Thank you to everyone following along and supporting these projects. And thank you to the plants themselves. Months ago they were seeds. Today they continue teaching us in entirely new forms. Grower's Love everyone. 🌱💚❄️ The Frozen Archive has officially beg P.S. A special thank you to Plagron for supporting this entire cultivation from start to finish. From the very first watering to the final harvest, drying, freezing, and extraction stages, every plant involved in this project was grown using the Plagron lineup, including Terra Grow, Terra Bloom, Pure Zym, CalMag Pro, Power Buds, Power Roots, and Green Sensation. As always, this is not about claiming that any product creates magic on its own. Healthy plants are the result of genetics, environment, nutrition, observation, patience, and consistency all working together. Still, after following these plants from seed to harvest and now into the extraction stage, I believe credit should be given where credit is due. These flowers, the fresh frozen material, and now the resin itself were all produced under the Plagron feeding program, and I am grateful for their support throughout the journey. Grower's Love. 🌱💚

Day 49 - lookin good..... been bending her, trimmin abit, messin with the water solution..... ph and ppm have been all over the place..... lol she's been transitioning from grow to flower, and once she settles into night mode, the solution and growing should stabilize...... the new fan is cool... tents working properly now, neg pressure, drawing in air behind the floor fan, blown around the bottom, and cpu extractor fan pushing the air out the top of the tent, straight into the filter..... really nice way to run a little tent, low airflow........ keeps the impurities out of the buds..... the stalks have all tuffened up since trimmin, and pretty strong now.... should hold the full weight that's about to occur all over the place...... i've simplified the nutrients, they were gettin alittle confusing, so started doin nuets differently, .... so, just making my own nuet solutions, nothing fancy just base amount of normal elements .... should be a pretty good christmas ...... Day 51 - pics/vids... 👍😎

New grow and with come its own issues I started nutrients to late and had a heat issue but all that has subsided this week a did a little defoliation and made sure to revamp nutrients

Semana de transición entre el abono para el periodo vegetativo (Bio Vega) y el abono que utilizaremos durante el periodo de floración (Bio Flores). El primero más rico en nitrógeno y el segundo, en fósforo, magnesio y potasio. Mezclo Bio Rhizotonic + Bio Vega + Bio Flores y riego con 50 litros de agua, todo el cultivo... Alterno riegos cada tres días, unos con abono y otros con agua. La próxima semana, elimináremos Bio Vega.

Little slow out the gate but we’re getting back into the swing of things with some good growth the last few days . I’m running a coolmist humidifier to keep these babies fresh under the HPS during lights on and a heat mat under the pot in off cycle with a folliar spray to go to bed with .

4 beautiful girls

day 73 I was not ready for all this! 🤣🤣 they literally exploded, even though the buds of El Patron are much thinner than the purple queen I have in my tent, I had to tie them up so that the weight of the flowers didn't break the branches. I have to say that 6 photoperiods are too many for my 1m x 1m x 2m tent. in addition to this I have noticed that they are very hungry. like me and give me some advice. thanks for stopping by, have a nice day and happy cultivation 💚🌳💚🌳

So jetzt habe Ich meine erste Ernte hinter mir. Das Ergebnis hat mich überrascht. Mit so einem kleinen Setup und eigentlich Keine professionelle LED Lampe, Habe ich solches fertig bekommen. Nach dem groben befreien der Blätter habe ich auf der Waage 577 g nass. Ich bin gespannt wie viel es circa trocken sein werden. Ich denke mit 100 g kann ich wohl rechnen. Sobald sie trocken sind werde ich mich noch mal melden.

Welcome to week 9! Starting off with a nice photoshoot Watered 3 plants on 08/04 with 1.5L 5.8 PH 1.7 EC. 2nd time for LCC "Cara" that she has to wait a day longer for watering. Oh well! Watered LCC "Cara" on 09/04, 1.5L 5.7 PH 1.8 EC No Watering on 10/04, but some nice colorful photos! Watered all on 13/04, 1.5L, 5.7 PH , 1.7 EC. Nutes all around the same, 5ml/L Plagron Terra Bloom and 1ml/L green sensation. one BPP is showing awesome purpling, very deep and saturated, and one LCC really got that Fall color scheme going now. Very happy with how its going! Trichomes are still mostly clear/cloudy. Judging by my last batch of BPPs, i'd give them anywhere from between 1-3 weeks. dont know how ill manage harvest yet, either all at once, when some are more amber and some are still a tad early, or individually. I got finals coming up so probably depending on how i find the time for it.

The plants had been a little root-bound before transplanting them into the bigger pots, this showed in a yellowing of the leaves and a slowed growth. During week 5, now in the bigger pots, the plants are recovering quickly. The start to grow in a nice healthy green color and quickly get bigger in size. Since the light-mix has nutrients in it for appr. 2 weeks, I only add a little BIO NOVA Roots and BN-Zym to my 'FLEXITANK' reservoir. After adding the nutrients I measure the ph-value and see its 6,6. That is too high for cannabis-plant on soil, they cannot take up all nutrients at that ph-level. Therefore I use ph-min from BIO NOVA to decrease the value of the 100 liter nutrient solution in my reservoir to ph=6,0. At this ph-level the plants can take up all nutrients they need for a healthy growth. My two SANlight EVO4-120 LED-fixtures are hanging 75 cm above the plants and are tilted inwards by 11 degrees, following the recommendations of the lights manufacturer. The fixtures are dimmed to 60% of power (=1 green light ON on the dimmer) at this stage, so they plants get a nice stretch and grow into bigger plants fast.

Timelaps

So far so good , girls are coming on nicely . Nothing to report really. Afgooey is looking as fat as I hoped for

Bonjour à tous les padawans et maîtres jedis Jour77 arrosage avec 2 litres d'eau ph6.3 Day80 j'ajoute en griffant la terre 3 grammes de feeding biobloom et arrosage avec 2 litres d'eau ph6.3 Ce sera mon dernier engraissage je commence mon rinçage la semaine prochaine Jour82 arrosage avec 3 litres d'eau ph6.3

This week hopefully i will get some good growth rate so I can perform topping and lst in week 3, my temp is quite high today reaching 34 degrees it just shows the resilience of these little plants. Humidity is at a steady 40% which I don't mind as then flowering plants need that. Day 18 on barneys watermelon zkittles and I changed the light and installed the ac infinityn 6 inch just need to put the filter on but need brackets its a beast lol. All mounted and tested all is good. Tomorrow I will be feeding molasses and phed water and topping the barneys watermelon zkittles. Day 19, good growth nodes are getting longer now, im not sure.if to top and lst or let it run and grow and minor lst and defoliation. Any input would be much appreciated. Day 20 topped and bent over ready for lst in a few days. Showing sex now with white pistols

just getting to the end here, which is good because i seem to have a breakout of TSM. Looks like I am going to have to clean the tent with a high mix peroxide and wash the netting. oh well almost done and the weed smells so good. 1 week left

Día 13 (06/05) Nos acercamos al final de la fase plántula. A ver si ahora empiezan a crecer de forma explosiva! He sido muy estricto con los riegos, dejando que el top hasta el nudillo se seque completamente! Día 14 (07/05) Hago una mejora en la tienda. Hasta ahora tenia intracción pasiva, pero ahora he instalado una turbina para que impulse aire fresco dentro de la tienda Día 15 (08/05) Con el calor que hace me sorprende que las macetas sigan aguantando la humedad, pero al hundir el nudillo sigue húmeda. Mañana haré un riego de nuevo Día 16 (09/05) Relleno el top con sustrato para compensar la compactación y dar mas soporte a las plantas Riego con 300 ml solo H20 - pH 6,2 Día 17 (10/05) Baño de sol de dos horas. Día 18 (11/05) Baño de sol de dos horas Día 19 (12/05) Riego 750 ml H2O + Regulator 0,15 ml/l + CaMg-Boost 0,25 ml/l + Startbooster 0,25 ml/l - pH 6.2 💦Nutrients by Aptus Holland - www.aptus-holland.com 🌱Substrate PRO-MIX HP BACILLUS + MYCORRHIZAE - www.pthorticulture.com/en/products/pro-mix-hp-biostimulant-plus-mycorrhizae

no se si sera normal pero se siente poco olor aun, esperemos que con el tiempo incremente su olorsh

During this week I will did some fan leaf removal, at the end of the week I will do a full system flush Flushing in 2 day when RO comes Good week. Flushed and added full tilt to the system @ 3tsp a gallon total 15 tsp

Day 14 - 3 out of 5 are growing a little slow/weird, all 5 seem to be growing kinda slow compared to my first run of autos but hopefully everything does good🤞🏼 Happy growing friends🌱✌️🏼 Day 17 - Still have 2 extremely weird looking ones, really hoping they bounce back🙏🏼🤞🏼 Day 18 - 3 out of 5 still going strong, the other 2 havnt changed much!