Someone's first grow

Hey, here's a plant that is someone's first attempt. I have a few questions about these pictures:

1. Think it's ready for harvest? It has been flowering for more than ten weeks, but I've heard that it just keeps growing new flowers even it's on 15 hours of darkness. The grower is getting impatient.

2. If the grower were to use good genetics instead of bagseed, would the yield be similar with the same setup? (76 watts of CFL)

3. The grower and I tested some popcorn buds still a little damp mixed with tobacco so it would burn and it took like two whole joints to barely feel anything. Will the big buds, when properly dried and cured, be way better? We smoked some dried leaves early on and it was about like poor schwag.

4. I'm using tor to read these boards but it's really slow. Is it way overkill?

5. How important is it to be vague about who is growing, and how bad is it to show your face? I want to post pics in the sexy pic or two thread but I'm worried.

I know it's a lot of questions, but I REALLY DID read the FAQs and I didn't see them there. Apologies in advance if I just missed it somehow. Here's pics.

Your poll left one out.....the $10 pocket microscope that will tell you if your plants are ready to harvest. Let me see if I can find a link....

Sorry folks, I don't see an edit button. My apologies, a couple of my questions are dealt with in the FAQs.. :/ If there's any more commentary on the subjects I would appreciate it though. I see that when to harvest has been answered in the FAQs, oops, but my friend doesn't own a magnifying glass. Also, in the FAQ on drying and curing it says that proper drying and curing does not increase potency, but other people have told me that when it is dried properly it is way more potent than when damp. ?!

http://boards.cannabis.com/grow-faqs...n-harvest.html

Yeah, sorry about that weedhound. I don't see how I missed the harvest Q in the FAQ.. :error: Also, I'm curious how anyone thinks it looks... to me it looks pretty phat considering the virginality and cheap/easy to find equipment. (He used four CFLs in a parabolic pendant lamp with three two-way light-bulb splitters [$1.96 at wal-mart] with a white posterboard box around it like a cabinet, miracle-gro time-release soil, and jack's classic african violet food when the time-release ran out)

np....I don't think it increases potency (imho) but curing helps with the harshness and taste of your yield for sure... ;)

Funny thing, so far it just smells like grass (Not the good kind, the mowed-down backyard kind.) Absolutely just the slightest grain ?!?! smell right when the cabinet is first opened, and a slight minty smell from broken stems. I know, I'm probably acting like it's the first grow ever done on earth, but I think all of you can remember how exciting and special your first girl was ;) , and how hungry for support you were, especially since you can't just open up and talk to all your friends about it.

That's perfectly normal.....part of the curing process is removing that smell (chlorophyl) sp? from the bud.....that's what you are smelling. When it's done curing it'll smell great. :thumbsup:

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Originally Posted by JD1stTimer

Sorry folks, I don't see an edit button. My apologies, a couple of my questions are dealt with in the FAQs.. :/ If there's any more commentary on the subjects I would appreciate it though. I see that when to harvest has been answered in the FAQs, oops, but my friend doesn't own a magnifying glass. Also, in the FAQ on drying and curing it says that proper drying and curing does not increase potency, but other people have told me that when it is dried properly it is way more potent than when damp. ?!

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When the bud is still damp, not only will it not burn but the cannabinoids are not yet ph neutral and will not be psychoactive. All the thc molecules need to dry up for the bud to be fully potent. Curing in glass jars allows the shedding of moisture to occur evenly and prevents quick-drying portions of the bud from overdrying. Proper drying is pretty important

The less pleasant grassy smell is the chlorophyll rich plant material that will abound when you're drying a bud with a lot of leaves. The flower itself will smell good even before drying, but the non-resiny stuff needs time to leave the flower. After decent drying, the grassy smell should be gone. You can get a good smell sample by brushing your fingers along a flower and smelling them (not too often). If even that smells grassy, you've got poor genetics or your growing methods need revision

Thanks for the info Weedhound and Burnable! I'm gonna tell the guy to get a good magnifier. I saw one on the Radio Shack website that looks good. I brushed a flower and it didn't leave any scent on my finger... ?! Probably a good thing cause when I walk in there I don't smell anything either... maybe someone was running a very stealthy strain that the original baggie came from? Doubt it, cause it's mexischwag around here. (Border state) But anyways, even if it's worthless I guess bagseed just goes that way sometimes. :)