Emmies Grow Log - White Widow

[canniwhatsis]

At that point I plan on flushing her again completely, 9 gallons in a 3 gallon pot,

How are you managing your runoff? I've had some plants in my screen that have SCREAMED for a flush! (over feeding/ PH imbalance, what have you) ,... but with no real way to manage runoff I couldn't do it :( My finished product has suffered for it too. :mad:

[emilya]

How are you managing your runoff? I've had some plants in my screen that have SCREAMED for a flush! (over feeding/ PH imbalance, what have you) ,... but with no real way to manage runoff I couldn't do it :( My finished product has suffered for it too. :mad:

I used a very low tech solution for this Canni... I thought hard about this when I first designed my SCRog table, with the ability to flush being second in importance to the ease of access under the screen.

Therefore, I built this so that there was a 24" area under the table for equipment storage and access for run off buckets. Above that is the first table layer where the planters sit in a run off tub that sits on 1/2 plywood that is wide enough to hold the tub with a bit of overlap. This layer has been designed to have a slight forward slope for water to flow toward the front. Using shims, I can add slight slope to the right or left if necessary to drain water to either side in that run off tub, right on the right side, left on the left side. I could have also allowed a bit of a lip in front and managed the run off from there, but it is neater to drive all the water to a corner. The tubs are standard cheap (non tupperware) tubs that you can buy at Wal*Mart and they have a very handy trough around the outer edge to collect water. I drilled a 1/4" hole in the corner of that trough, dropped a 5 gal bucket in place when I water and presto, run off management, low tech and cheapskate style... just how Emmie likes it.

Here is a picture:
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Hope that helps...

Emmie

[Dutch Pimp]

I used a very low tech solution for this Canni... I thought hard about this when I first designed my SCRog table, with the ability to flush being second in importance to the ease of access under the screen.



foreplanned is forearmed...:thumbsup:

[canniwhatsis]

Nicely done :thumbsup:

I'd have a bit of a problem trying that, while I do have room for buckets under my tables,.... I've got tables,..... 3 of em, all different sizes with different size pots cycling in and out of them at different times. I've been thinking of trying to use some Ebb/flow tray's and just plumb the drain into my basement drain,.... but the trays are F'n expensive!!!!!

[WashougalWonder]

Damn college kids think too far ahead.:)

[tikiroom]

How's your girl doin' Emmie?

[emilya]

Greetings everyone! Today finds me examining trichomes and looking for the signs of ripeness. Things have gone very well and it looks like we are about a week away from that magical point where all the trichomes have gone milky and a good percentage are beginning to show bits of amber. Today I see that maybe half to 75% are milky and there are a few spots where I am seeing amber already.
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Three days ago I gave Hillary her last nutes and told her it was water from here on out. I let her slide today and gave her one last hit of molasses, but the next water in 2 days is going to be a complete flush with 3x the container size or 9 gallons of water. Published data says that this is an 8 week flowering plant, so next Thursday is the day that she has flowered for the 56 days and possibly when she is at her peak. The pocket microscope will tell the story between now and then. When I decide it is going to be time to harvest, I will keep her working until she uses up her water, gives her last gasp... and then out come the snippers.
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I can see that some parts of the plant will be more "ripe" than others at this point, and I am going to try to separate out a couple different kinds of meds as I harvest. I am already planning for the next round and Hillary's 3 clones and 2 unknown seed startups should be ready to move to the flowering room for a summer crop at just about the time I have finished using the flowering tent to dry this one. I am very pleased at the timing and I would not have been able to do this without all the help I have received here over this last 4 months.

My next update should be at the harvest party and I will in the next few weeks wrap up this successful grow log with wet and dry weights and the obligatory smoke report afterward. This has been fun!
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Hope everything is going well with all of you,
Emmie

[CanGroIt]

Great job Emmie!!!

[tikiroom]

Now that you are almost done with your first scrog, is there anything you would do different because of the gained experience?

[Gare0440]

great looking first grow. beautiful plant. ive been checking this since the start and looking good looking good.
had a question bout the WW, did you notice it was sensitive to nutrients? got one started my self and have read people talking about that.
nicely done

[WashougalWonder]

You won't be able to tell the difference between the nearly and the very ready. They kind of get ripe from the bottom up. That looks ready to me, but my scope won't look at these pics all I get all little dots on the screen...TeeHee

[emilya]

Great job Emmie!!!
Thanks!


Now that you are almost done with your first scrog, is there anything you would do different because of the gained experience?
:) I did that to you too didn't I? Evil tiki! lol. Let's see...
First, more plants! Nothing quite as sad as half a screen unused.
I am not as convinced as I was before that the added side lights did much other than to heat up my grow tent. It turns out that the water usage increase that I saw in week 3 probably wasn't the effect of the added lights after all, it was the normal spot in flowering where this happens. Next time I will not worry about the side lights and will concentrate more on the top of the canopy.
When I am training the next group, I am going to pay more attention to the eventual placement of the secondary bud group (next down from the end bud) as improper placement or blocking light with fan leaves from these buds WILL result in stunted growth of these buds as compared to those next to them. I have several cases where half of that second set were blocked and now are half the size of the bud right next to them on the branch. This could have been avoided.
Next time, 10" instead of 12"
And next time, near the end of the 3 week stretch, I will let those ones that are barely long enough to go to the next hole in the screen go upwards. Those that I forced are going to be a challenge getting off of the screen, and I think they could have developed more fully if I had let them go up instead of forcing them to barely hit that next hole. The ones that were able to get that extra 3 inches vertically took advantage of being closer to the light and I have to realize next time that the screen isn't the final height of the SCRog, it is the screen plus the length of that last bud set... or about 4-5 inches above the screen. Shooting for that across the entire screen will make the upper canopy more even actually and I think overall production will increase because of it.


great looking first grow. beautiful plant. ive been checking this since the start and looking good looking good.
had a question bout the WW, did you notice it was sensitive to nutrients? got one started my self and have read people talking about that.
nicely done
I found just the opposite Gare, but then again I didn't start with nutes until about the 7th week of vegging either. I think if I had tried to add nutes along with all the troubles I had in the veg stage, it would not have gone very well. From the point I started the nutes however, we were in a rapid growth cycle and she took to the nutes very well. I read someone to say that White Widow could take all the nutrients you could give her and I gave her the high end of the recommended amounts, EVERY OTHER TIME. If I had tried to do more, I am sure I would have burned her and I could see that at the levels I was giving her, just the very tips of some of the leaves showed a nutrient burn, and mostly after one session where I gave molasses along with the nutes. I have learned a lot about nutes during this grow and realize now the tradeoffs I made using the Fox Farm line of nutes. Don't get me wrong, they are good nutes... but they are chemically based and do very little to promote the health of the soil and its microbial life. It has worked well for me though, but I know that I had to remain consistent after going down this path, as taking these nutes away in the middle of the grow would have probably left my plant unable to thrive alone and not using the entire Fox Farm line (including the solubles) would have left her lacking in some way. It's an interesting ride we take these plants on with these nute programs... When I use up these nutes I am going to try the Advanced Nutrients line and see if I do any better with a completely organic system that takes care to keep the soil active.


You won't be able to tell the difference between the nearly and the very ready. They kind of get ripe from the bottom up. That looks ready to me, but my scope won't look at these pics all I get all little dots on the screen...TeeHee
When I saw the patch of amber on one of the upper buds I was thinking that they are almost ready and I have noticed a bit more of the ripening from the bottom as you say. I am still watching those trichomes though, and can see that they are still lengthening and thickening and that too large of a percentage of them are still clear. I have determined from my early sampling that although the intense cerebral high that comes from the early stage buds is not quite all that I desire in my finished product and know that I must hold out a bit longer for more of the body high that will come from this hybrid as the trichomes ripen a bit more into the colored stages. I am confident that this is going to happen sometime this week from all the indications I am getting here. I am hoping to time this right with the flushing and cutoff from the nutes, that before that happens, she also throws out a heavy layer of trichomes onto the leaves. So far, she looks quite juicy, but not nearly as frost covered as you see in some of the pictures. Each day surprises me a bit though, and I suspect I will wake up one of these mornings to a snow covered field of frosty and delightful goodness. There is that troublesome adage you hear out there too, "When you think they are ready, wait a week." I think we are there. Yep... this week will be it.

Be well everyone,
Emmie

[StoneMeadow]

You won't be able to tell the difference between the nearly and the very ready. They kind of get ripe from the bottom up. That looks ready to me, but my scope won't look at these pics all I get all little dots on the screen...TeeHee

Please tell us more about this scope... :)

[Rusty Trichome]

Nice job. How long are you going to cure 'em?

Patience is a good thing. :jointsmile:

[emilya]

Nice job. How long are you going to cure 'em?

Patience is a good thing. :jointsmile:

Thank you Rusty. I could not have done it without your help.
Regarding the curing... honestly, as long as I can is my answer. Since only one plant survived the entire grow process here, I am not going to have a stupendous yield or anything and it is going to be very tempting as I watch my summer grow to continue to sample the product of this one. I would like some of the cured product to survive my abuse however and serve as a sort of archive to my education and I clearly see that part of that education has to include experiencing the benefits of an extended curing process. We shall see how well I do in this regard... no promises.
As far as the immediate future goes, I do plan on drying properly and then curing in the jars for at least 2-3 weeks before starting to share it with others. From all the information that I can gather, anything less would be a job halfway done, and a resulting product that was not as good as it could have been in taste, aroma and effectiveness.

Emmie

[Gare0440]

looks like someone had a nice long morning typing :D:D
thanks for the responce about the WW an the nutes it uptook for you.

I have learned a lot about nutes during this grow and realize now the tradeoffs I made using the Fox Farm line of nutes. Don't get me wrong, they are good nutes... but they are chemically based and do very little to promote the health of the soil and its microbial life.
a buddy of mine used the FF trio nutes and he didnt have great luck thats what steared me away from it, but some peoples grows on the forums here succeed with that stuff and create beautiful ladies ;)
chemically based nutes are very tricky an mixed results it looks like, Im using General Hydroponics Floranova grow and bloom and those can be tricky to mess with.
Aside from the mud color and super concentrated my plants have never been happier.
I would go organic but at the hydro shop i asked for a nute that would give me quality and quanity with whatever i was trying to grow an the guy was sworn by the flora nova series and all its GH additives for veg an bud and chatted me up about it.

cant wait to see the :chainsaw::chainsaw: chop chop. keep at it

[emilya]

Hillary got her big 9 gallon flush this last weekend as we prepare for the last week or two. Depending on ones personal preferences, some would say that she is ready for harvest now. You have come to know me pretty well over these many months, and you know of course that there is no way that I could let the harvest go by without a bit of experimentation. :)
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I decided to do a multi-stage harvest in order to sample the product at various stages of ripening. The trichomes are mostly cloudy at this point with just a speck of so of amber here and there... estimated at 1% or less. There seem to be 12-15 main colas on Hillary so I decided to take a sample harvest from one corner of the SCRog and collect one of these branches.

This "early" harvest was 36.7g ... multiply by 12 for a good low end estimate of Hillary's final yield. Since I am waiting longer, this may change. We will keep track and see what happens.

This first sample is now slow drying on a screen and when just dry enough it will be sealed in a jar to cure until it is ready. Quick drying of a small sample in a convection oven at 200deg gives a resulting smoke that is mind numbing and prolonged, although taste and smoothness leave much to be desired.

Here are more pictures!

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Emmie

[WashougalWonder]

I predict 9.1 grams of medicine from that when dry. :) Let air get under the screen, I like the flag.

Yep until the chlorophyll has a chance to change it will taste gawdawful and be very harsh probably too

[rattlingdags]

We're really getting down to the nitty gritty of things now and the coming demise of Hilary. The final countdown and all that. Its a little sad to see her go but she's been the star of a wonderful log and a fun experience. Thanks Emmie for putting in the time and effort to share it all. Hope you do it again with your new kids *hint hint* :)

Our first harvests are going to be at about the same time. I'm looking to chop our first girls this weekend and its pretty exciting after all the waiting.

[emilya]

We're really getting down to the nitty gritty of things now and the coming demise of Hilary. The final countdown and all that. Its a little sad to see her go but she's been the star of a wonderful log and a fun experience. Thanks Emmie for putting in the time and effort to share it all. Hope you do it again with your new kids *hint hint* :)

Our first harvests are going to be at about the same time. I'm looking to chop our first girls this weekend and its pretty exciting after all the waiting.

Yes indeed... it is coming right down to it now. Today was day 56... the end of the 8 week flowering period as advertised. Almost as if on cue, today I was looking at 5-10% amber trichomes in places, and with a bit more of overall frost than just 3 days ago. I am pretty sure that today I saw the spot of peak ripeness, and cut 3 more branches to trim and start drying. Today's yield was about 85g. Between half to 2/3 of the plant remains on the SCRog to see what happens next. I expect this weekend when she finally drys out from the flushing that she will give her last and I will see heavy frost along with even more maturing of the trichomes. At this point, I will harvest the rest and send Hillary to the re-veg tent.

I will put up a harvest post as we wrap this up here and then after that I will spend a quiet month or so burping the mason jars that hold the results from the 3 stages of this harvest. A detailed quality and taste report will follow when it is possible to evaluate them.

For now as we wrap up here, we take the lessons learned from this first grow and continue on, a little smarter, a lot more confident and determined to make a difference in some lives around me. The next round is already growing in the veg tent and will feature 3 of Hillary's clones along with one or maybe two unknown strains growing from seed. So far no sex on them, but we are hoping for a little variety and am playing the 50/50 odds that one of the unknowns will be a female and will make it to flowering for the summer crop.

The yield from just one plant after all this time and work is a bit disappointing, but Hillary will supply us well until the next harvest and her offspring will now keep this line going for the foreseeable future. With the much better harvest anticipated on the next round, we expect to make enough meds to supply our two patients and our two connoisseurs for some time into the future. Who knows what will happen as we gain experience over the next year. We might just get good at this one day!

I have enjoyed chronicling my adventure here in this forum for you. I have learned a lot, and I hope that I helped some of you have learned something too. I mostly enjoyed all the great people who stopped by and let me know they were watching and cheered me on as I learned what I needed in order to make this happen. I have said it before that I could not have done this without so many of you, but its more than that. I would not have "wanted" to do it or even had the courage to do it without you all there guiding me along and encouraging me. With your acceptance of me into this community I was even brave enough to do this grow log. If my attempt here to create a journal that could help a brand new grower was successful, I thank all of you for helping me to create it and "props and likes" are greatly appreciated. :thumbsup:

Emmie

[WashougalWonder]

I don't think your yield will be disappointing from what I have seen of the plant. (Unless your standards are too high.) You have done well. Remember, this is just about one hit weed for most folks. Heavy duty users might be able to smoke half a doobie. It will go a long way.

[loststix]

:computerlove1:

i have to say this was a joy of a grow log.
done your homework before you started.
kept us up dated .
i would say i am keeping this to read over again.
it was like a good book.
parts i had to read with my hand over my eyes, like watching a horror movie:D
well done and look forward to ur next 1:thumbsup:

[canniwhatsis]

Your over 100g wet and only 1/3 of the way thru harvest! :weedpoke: That sure as hell isn't a disappointing yield for a first grow. :greenthumb:

Looking forward to what the clones do for ya, it's all up hill from here. ;)

[emilya]

For those of you taking bets as to whether we were done here...

I realized a few very important things this week. First of all... since the point of harvest is so subjective and so dependent on personal need and preference, we see very little recommending the new gardener on when to recognize the proper point of harvest. For each person this magical point could be different, so in keeping with the idea behind this thread I realized that I needed to cure at several points in this ripening and sample them all for taste, preference and effect.

With this in mind, today at day 62 I harvested another branch for 20.7gm. I don't believe that I have seen the most potent buds yet, but we are close. Let me show you what I am looking at. :)

The best advice given as to how to tell when it is time to harvest seems to be, "watch the trichomes" and that does indeed appear to be the trick. The first problem is just how to see those elusive trichomes. I went out and got one of those pocket microscopes at Radio Shack. $13 wasted! In the grow room, standing over a SCRog screen that thing is almost useless for me and only gives fleeting glimpses of trichomes, for my 52 year old father and his less than perfect eyesight, forget it. I did learn that with the macro setting on my camera along with the ability to zoom in digitally on the computer, some pretty good views of the trichomes can be had. Not only that, but by being able to compare pictures every few days, it is easy to see where the "amber line" is.

click on these pictures to zoom in on the trichomes


near the middle of the bud274678 274679at the top


So I have been taking a lot of pictures of the buds every few days and have found that the buds at the bottom of the plant are definitely getting a lot of amber, but still not at the tip tops of each bud. The big buds at the canopy level are showing amber at the screen level to about halfway up, whereas the tops of the buds are now mostly cloudy with a speck of amber here and there. It should be just a matter of a few more days until I see 10-20% amber at the top... and then I am harvesting, but not until then. Rusty was right, Patience above all else.

Hope your spring is going well so far,

Emmie

[Dutch Pimp]

As far as using the pocket microscope; snip a very, very small sample of bud leaf, and put it on a white plate.

[rattlingdags]

I had the same problem, its really not so handy trying to look carefully while holding hands, microscope and plant all steady and worrying about squishing precious buds. So I was doing what DP just suggested and snipped a tiny piece of leaf and could inspect hassel-free how things were developing.
Those are great macro shots and gives you a good view of the action too.

[emilya]

wow... 16,000+ views on my first little grow log. I am amazed! Just checked in to say hey to all my friends, and here is hoping that all of you are well!

[Shovelhandle]

yut, 16,000 views is a lot for a grow thread. And over three years has to be a record for a grow thread too! Keep it going, Em!

[smello1]

:thumbsup:A great grow to follow.Very well thuoght out
wow... 16,000+ views on my first little grow log. I am amazed! Just checked in to say hey to all my friends, and here is hoping that all of you are well!

[emilya]

:thumbsup:A great grow to follow.Very well thuoght out

Thank you smello1, I learned a lot by doing it, and gained a lot of new friends too! Just imagine what I am doing now, with 3 1/2 solid years of experience behind me!

[Weezard]

Thank you smello1, I learned a lot by doing it, and gained a lot of new friends too! Just imagine what I am doing now, with 3 1/2 solid years of experience behind me!

I can't imagine, you'll just have to show us. :)

Aloha,
Weeze

[emilya]

I can't imagine, you'll just have to show us. :)


You always have been a tricky Wee Weezard...
On the screen today is Dutch Passion at 6 weeks,
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[TANKJR]

And I thought you'd disappeared...Nice to see you again old friend! As I would expect, your pics are a joy to behold! :cool:

[emilya]

And I thought you'd disappeared...Nice to see you again old friend! As I would expect, your pics are a joy to behold! :cool:

I just had to step away for a while to finish up the school work and get a job. Still had my head and the well being of my patients to worry about though, so I never quit trying to make my thumb a little greener. Glad to see that you are still out there too TankJr!