Ok, had to continue the daily check because of the bud rot I found just yesterday. So far, the surrounding bud sites appear to be healthy. I don't plan on going out there tomorrow, but will feed them on Monday. It will probably be my last feeding of the season.
I plan on letting the bud fully ripen and would like it to be using some of the fan leaves going into harvest. I've done a pretty good job of keeping the plants green all year. Now I am going to let it eat itself going into the final two weeks. I should be harvesting sometime early the week of October 17th. I am fairly positive 15 more days should be enough, but if necessary will prepare the ground for the first frost and let the plants ride it out. I don't think that will be necessary though.
The smallest of the two unknown strain plants is wilting along the branch that broke. I believe it to still be alive, but think it shows the weakness in this plant compared to the other same unknown strain. That plant had a much larger branch, one of the main colas, break cleanly down the plant and yet my wrapping, splinting and taping appears to have been enough to keep it from going into shock at all. Just shows the difference in strengths among the same plant strain.
This has actually taught me another lesson and one that I plan on carrying forward into my future indoor grows. While collecting my plant stock for my indoor grow, I plan on buying and growing from seed several females in each strain I am interested in. Close to harvest I will take clones of all of the plants. Once my harvest has dried and cured I will taste test all of it, and determine which I like the best. That plant will become my mother plant and will be what I grow in that particular strain until another seed impresses me.
I am really looking forward to it, and rereading Ed's Handbook for inspiration. Life is good for this 40-something stoner. Toke on brother and sisters, toke on!