Trichomes & Harvest:


All pictures are of plants from Units 1 and 2. This is at 100x magnification

It appears that the trichomes on our plants in Units 1 and 2 have turned cloudier making me think I may be harvesting those two units on schedule around day 50 as I think a few more days would be all that's needed to turn them all mostly cloudy and add the extra weight. Another indicator is the hairs have been turning red to one degree or another and recommended flowering times are helpful to guide you. All these things taken into account will steer me in the right direction, I believe.


200x magnification

I've included pictures taken at 100X magnification as this is the magnification many people use and are familiar with in the hope they'd share their insights.


200X - this is a shot of C99 X BB 'bravo' - I've heard that blueberry strains don't exactly amber but turn purplish-blue. I wonder if that's what's being seen here at the base of the trichomes

To my eye, it could go either way - they either look clear or cloudy from this vantage (100X). It is probably a combination of both - which hints to me they have at least a few days to go before getting yanked. To ensure I'm seeing cloudy trichomes for certain, I may allow a small few to go amber just to see what trichomes look like at the latest stage of cloudiness. With the exception of C99 x BB, I wish to harvest the plants when they are showing mostly clouded trichomes, the C99-Blueberry cross I think I will harvest with 25% ambering. This I will accomplish by exposing the plant to UVB lighting for anywhere between 1-4 hours, checking the effects of exposure as I go.


200x magnification

Improvements to grow:


100x magnification

I've been able to determine what improvements I'd like to make to the room for fine tuning. First off, as I'd mentioned, I would center the HPSes and make the UVB lights more easily adjustable. Secondly, I'm going to add another chiller to eliminate the need for any supplemental cooling with an air-conditioner to make the room truly sealed (and I can cut down on the cost of refilling propane tanks so often). As per a tip from Weezard & dependent on the grow results - I think I may be removing the UVB from my grow as a constant presence & only using it at the last to "ripen up" in the last few days a few hours or one hour in one go or remove it entirely as the far red in the light may be enough to ripen the plant sufficiently.


100x magnification

I'm also adding a reservoir of beneficial bacteria & mycorrhizae which will be maintained with an air-stone for oxygen & bio-balls for a livable substrate which will be used to add a few cups of it as water to start off reservoirs and for reservoir changes & toppings off to colonize the plant's roots & the reservoir itself - this is to head off the brown algae that did the damage to the grow in the first place. It will be replenished with standing water when needed.


100x magnification

I may get a RO machine with UV to use to clear the replenishing water, but I'm reluctant as they seem to use a lot of water themselves. I'm less reluctant to do so as the water I'd be putting through reverse osmosis wouldn't be for all the reservoirs, just for the little colony I'd have going. I may also, in addition to adding a portion of this water to every reservoir, run each new unit through for about a week or two to establish the beneficials on the apparatus & plants (if I chose to do so with plants. I feel this will ensure and make clogged sprayers & overgrowth unlikely. Since I have it at hand, I'd probably use SubCulture M at full strength with some FloraBlend & FloraNectar added for food and run it for a week before adding the SubCulture B at full strength. Currently I'll be running a test of this new addition to see if it takes & if the bacteria become "gummy" & how likely it will be that the mixture will possibly be a source of clogged sprayers. Alternatively, if the bio-soup I'm thinking of concocting proves to be ineffective or a hindrance to the system in some way, my second option is to install UV filters in the reservoirs.


100x magnification

I'd have rather the first method work out as the UV can interfere with the chelated metals in the nutrients causing problems specifically with iron, manganese & magnesium, off the top of my head. I don't know how to deal with such problems & I haven't found any resources on the subject, so option one looks the best right now. This is to fend off further outbreaks of brown algae & other microbial enemies, I got the inspiration from a thread at IC Mag - it's stickied & if you type brown algae, you can find it. It appears the solution the posters with brown algae in their systems came up with the solution of mixing in 3 cups or so of earthworm casings tea to their reservoirs - or using UV light sanitizers, but all after a thorough cleaning of all parts of their systems with the nuclear bomb of sanitizers - Physan 20. Which I may use myself after this grow as I did have to deal with the brown algae. I'd rather not and just clean with FloraShield or bleach & try to grow with the beneficials from there, but if it comes to it I may have to break out the biggest gun of all in our horticultural cache.


200X magnification


100X magnification