Emmies Grow Log - White Widow

[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
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.
Attachment 274319
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!

Attachment 274318Attachment 274320
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