Need help and advice please
I'm a new caregiver helping my mom out with her crop. She has a few issues that would love advice on:
1. Airey buds that seem to dry out quick. they were hung up to dry for a few days until the stems snap when bent. Fan leaves were clipped before they were hung. 1st harvest was Super Haze and the 2nd was some bag seed that is mostly indica. Both dried out too quick. followed several curing instructions from online sources but both ended up just flaking apart in the jars.
2. the mature pistols stick out like "rat tail" breaking off when stored. Do they contain any meds? thc or cannabinoids? How do you get nice looking buds that the hairs don't just stick out like the hair of someone getting electrocuted.
A step by step guide to harvesting and trimming to curing would be great. maybe some pictures or a video that y'all could recommend. Thanks for the help
Need help and advice please
Loose/Airey buds tend to be immature or were grown under inadequate lighting. I had one plant like this but it was the result of some kind of nutrient lockout or something, it finished but the buds were as you described and the lower flowers almost didn't develop at all as I think all the energy was put into the top flowers.
Although you can smoke fresh bud it is best if it is allowed to cure for about 30 day's. I trimmed all the fan leaves before I pulled them, hung them in the closet for 5-7 days running a fan once or twice a day to keep the air fresh then trimmed off the finger leaves and let the buds dry more in small cardboard boxes shaking them once a day to keep the air fresh then after a few days the went into airtight jars which I opened up about once a day, fluffed the buds and replaced the lid. There was a significant difference between the buds after 3 weeks of curing in fact there was no comparison to some of the smoke I dried out quickly to smoke.
Need help and advice please
+ what purple daddy said about the lighting.
How long did you let them flower?
Do your buds smell like hay? If so you picked to early.
This may not apply to you but what I've noticed are that seed banks short growers on length of flower, just to sell product. Some will say 8 weeks when really it is 11. I have a ppp right now that's going it close to 12 weeks and it hasn't turned amber yet, the recommended time is 8-10. If I knew this ppp was going to take 12-15 weeks I would have bought super lemon haze.
I would invest in a scope and monitor the trichome color. To me this is a better rule then pistils or weeks. Seed banks give you their flowering time in their setup.
my step by step is:
1. wait until trichomes are 50/50 cloudy/amber.
2. dry for 2-7 days depending on the humidity. my buds dry out very fast in the winter and I prefer a 2-3 day dry. summer 5-7 days.
3. (Cure) if its the winter I jar early and monitor curing closer. More dump outs and jarring. Summer I normally need to crack the jars a few times a day. More of a traditional curing method.
-319
Need help and advice please
Firstly I have to say I think its very sweet your doing this with your Mum :thumbsup:
Your airy bud problem is perhaps more a growing issue (or genetic) than only a curing problem. I'd actually start going over that - as to what the plants were missing out on to produce less than the desired result.
This forum right here is virtually all I used when reading up on growing and I couldn't recommend highly enough just sitting down for however many hours and just reading over the 'stickies' that are at the top of each section. Then keep on reading, all the questions, answers and growlogs. Its all here, what you need to know to have a good harvest. I watched alot of youtube video's also for a visual guide, but stuck to learning from the senior growers here for real information. I found reading all over the web just got confusing and counter productive.
Just a couple of thoughts on your quick drying buds. I have very low humidity here (20% mostly) and my first crop dried too fast also - in 3 days. I also had them hanging too close to the extractor fan. Wasn't a good idea. They were fine but I put a couple of leaves in the jars with them. Twice a day I gently rotate the jars to free up the buds from each other, and open the lid for a few minutes.
Since that first time now when I've chopped and the tops are hanging up I just have a small fan in with them, not blowing on them but below and against a wall so its more a bounce back breath of air. Keep them dark and warm - not hot. Now it takes a week for drying and then into the jars. Curing takes as long as I can manage to keep my guy from 'sampling' but a month is a good start.
Really hope it goes better for you both next time :)
Need help and advice please
By all means check the trich's, this is the first year I did this and you can absolutely tell when they're changing. I had some plants that took 11 weeks to finish so there is no set in stone time. As has been stated many factors go into drying/curing including climate, ambient temp's, humidity etc., a basement will be cooler and more humid then an attic, a garage will be hotter and drier then a house closet. Clipping fan leaves before or after you hang them will factor into drying times. You don't even have to hang your plants you can clip all the buds right off of it while it's standing, put them in paper grocery bags about 6-8 inches deep, fold up the bag then open it and shake it once or twice a day for about a week, the paper lets the buds breath but helps retain moisture. I've quick dried buds by putting a few in a glass jar then putting that jar in the window of the car with the windows down a few inches, takes about 24 hours.
Need help and advice please
i have a variable hand held 30-100x microscope. I checked the trichs on both harvests. The 1st harvest, the plants looked in bad shape. started yellowing really bad so i felt i needed to pull. the trichs were not amber yet but the pistols were almost all dark brownish red. I was worried that the plant was dying or something. on the 2nd harvest i also checked the trichs and they were mostly clear but again like 80-90 % of the hairs were dark brownish red so i felt to pull em again not sure if they were ready.
and ive never smelled hay before but if it smells like i think than yes, they smelled like hay.
i had 9 plants under a 400w HPS in 12"x12" pots. in a 3'x3'sq from what i've read i think i had enough light? they were bout 3 ft tall and not real bushy. light was 12-16in from the tops and the temps measured at tops were between 76-84deg.
Again, any insight would be greatly appreciated
Need help and advice please
I may have missed it, but did you say how long you flowered for? As mentioned, they may not have been finished, even though the hairs were dark - but I can understand your frustration and confusion when the buds remain 'airy' and light at that point. It sounds like you're growing some sativa dominant strains considering the results you're having - do you know the strain(s)? Sativas can often give you much 'airyer' buds, regardless of the grow environment, and if the genetics are from outdoor only grows, the chances are even greater when attempting them indoors. Maybe try to get something next that has more Indica in it...
One suggestion I can offer (aside from agreeing whole-heartedly with the posts already made here), is to LST (train) your plants low and encourage more branching to keep it bulky early on through veg - then flowering will push out energy to more tops and you should see less stretching - less stretching means less distance for the plant to supply it's growth/flowering evergy to... and hopefully some thicker tops. Topping the plant(s) will also help.
Another trick that I like to use it twisting and pinching the tops about 2 weeks into flower, right when the start the 2-week stretch. About 4-6 inches down each top, find an open space between nodes and pinch the stem to break the cellulose in it - do that to all the tops, and it will instinctively 'repair' itself over the next week, and help bulk up your tops a bit. I've experimented with that technique in my last 3-4 grows with good results...
Hope that helps!!
Need help and advice please
Different strains will mature at different rates. I had the orange/brown hairs you're talking about but my tric's were not clear so I let it go, a few years ago I probably would have pulled them based on the hairs. It's possible they needed a few more weeks to finish.
One 400W for 9 plants could be part of the problem as your lower branches aren't getting much light. You may want to try growing a few plants larger as their light needs won't be the same as 9.
Need help and advice please
I will try some of the things suggested, thanks guys! How and when do i LST "train the plant"... .. And topping, how and when?
Need help and advice please
400w for 9 plants in a 3x3 space IMO won't work. In my 4x4 tent using a 400w cooltube the best number I came up with was 5 plants and that ended up being crowded by the end. 4 plants in my case would be best as it gives plenty of room for growth and work space.
Need help and advice please
we did that because from what we read, 30-50 watts per sq ft was doable, which put us right in that range. they were no where near as bushy as ive seen so crowding wasnt really an issue. im assuming because it was a mostly sativa strain the first time. we had 4 plants our second harvest with a more indica dominant strain but the same issues occurred. unfortunately we dont really have the time for trial and error more than a few times. we're sorta pressed for time so i need to rectify our issues asap.
if someone could just point me to the holy grail of knowledge about growing this stuff that would be great!
maybe i will just upgrade my lighting situation and see if that helps. cant really hurt i guess. thanks guys.
Need help and advice please
Need help and advice please
Quote:
Originally Posted by richardskinner
I will try some of the things suggested, thanks guys! How and when do i LST "train the plant"... .. And topping, how and when?
LST (Low Stress Training) can be started as soon as the plant is about 4-5 nodes in height (as small as 6 inches) or even smaller, depending on how strong it is. Just anchor it from one side, near the bottom node, and bend her over, exposing the lower nodes. That will encourage her to put more energy into those parts of the plant, and give you more tops earlier on.
Topping can be a bit trickier, as you're actually cutting the top few nodes off the top (or the top of each seperate top) in order to get the lower 2 developing tops to take off. Topping also can help you maintain your total plant height, and it promotes a 'bushier' plant overall. You may also want to attempt to FIM instead of topping, which (if successful) will encourage 4 tops to develop instead of one. Topping can be done as soon as you see enough top growth. There's a ton of info on the internet about topping and FIMming - search these boards for a wealth of specific info on these methods. Good luck! :rasta:
In case you'd like to see a result of some major LST work...check out my Tangerine Dream journal in the below link. This is ONE plant in a waterfarm, LST'd through about 9 weeks of veg... needless to say, I did NOT expect to see this kind of result from a single plant under a 400w light, but the training is a big part of what allowed this kind of result!
Barney's Farm - Tangerine Dream - Waterfarm!
Need help and advice please
I topped a plant about a week ago, the lower branches are already taller then the plant was when I topped it so topping doesn't seem to do much in regards to stunting the height of the plant it just gives you four new tops.
Bending has pretty much the exact same effect, on the plants I bent down the side branches took over and were as tall as the original top within a week so between topping and bending I haven't realized any benefit in terms of slowing the rate at which my plants are growing vertically.
I'm at the absolute maximum height I can let some of my plants grow so I'm having a bit of a dilemma here. I'm going to bring two inside and finish them early and a couple others I can probably move around in the back yard between my redwood trees keeping them pretty hidden.
Need help and advice please
(for DAYZ) HOLY SHIT! thats amazing, great job. well that seems like it took a lot of dedication.
Need help and advice please
http://boards.cannabis.com/basic-gro...-dankness.html
There you go and read every other sticky that pertains to your type of growing. Every section of growing is covered here. Look under the Basic Growing section to get started