New to Grow Journal

[KeepOnTheGrass]

ohh ok I see.. was quite worried about the alcohol getting out, and really did´nt trust the 50+ pages thread that said to just mix it in a bottle with a hole in the top ( no airlock ).
Did´nt even consider just buying one was about to make one myself but that could have been a little messy so thanks for the quick and good answer.
I will most definately follow your post (subscribed) and I am also quite interested in encomiums crop to be honest looking great aswell bro.
Great thread/journal btw +rep to the both of you.
I´ll see about borrowing a decent camera so you can check my ladies out aswell, since you don´t mind us posting pics

Blaze up

 

[KeepOnTheGrass]

oh p.s on the air lock, it is filled with water hallway and even on both-sides of the sideways 'S'.
The gas travels through but nothing else does.

btw will this water automatically fill up when you get it going or is something thats is "manually" filled in?
also you think you could take a picture of your CO2 setup? I would really like to see it before setting my own up just too be sure I am doing it right (don´t wanna harm the ladies)

Thank you
Blaze up

 

[KevinSmith]

you manually fill it up beforehand.
When the reaction starts you can see the second chamber has double the water than the first. That is the gas pushing it. Once it gets to about double the amount of water in the second chamber the gas can no longer push the water and bubbles then start to go through the water and escape.
This is the simplest set up. water bottle from dollar store $1
airlock from home brew store $2
and sugar yeast and baking soda.
Total around 6 or 7 bucks.
I also run a similar set up in my planted aquarium but with a diffuser ladder instead of a bubbler.
It is about 1/1000 as efficient as a real co2 canister/ tank, timer and regulator, but it's cheap and better than no co2 at all.

Looking forward to seeing some pics of your ladies.

 

[KevinSmith]

you could make your own diffuser by having one tube come out of your bottle with the mix in it to another bottle of water.
Then that tube coming out goes into the top of bottle #2 to the bottom and a hole at the top of bottle #2 to let the gas escape.
But this is more of a pain in the ass for not much savings if any at all..

 

[KevinSmith]

Yea pretty much. I took a 1/2 gallon jar with a metal screw top. Poked 2 holes in the top, 1 for air-pump tubing going out to a small air pump and the other just for exhaust (I made 2nd hole smaller).

Digital timer attached to the air pump and a hygrometer inside the jar with the buds. I tested it last night and it seems to work great with the air pump lowering RH in about 5-10 minutes of running the air pump. Testing was done with freshly dehydrated buds from my try at water curing so they were warm and still a bit moist. RH after 30 minutes in the semi-sealed jar rose to 71% and lowered to 58% after running the pump for @ 5 minutes.

The only thing I'll have to worry about is setting up the right schedule for burping and I'll be set

sounds like a lot of work! lol but considering you don't have much choice it sounds great

 

[KeepOnTheGrass]

ok thanks again for the quick answers
Do I need to mix baking soda in it too? as I have understood it, it only takes sugar, water and yeast.. not that it will cause a problem since baking soda costs practically nothing, but just to be sure.
Also how do you mix it? - this many parts sugar, yeast and so on..
Well I actually have taken some pictures already not the best quality with hps but still pics;P now the only problem is figuring out how to post as a link like you did

 

[KevinSmith]

from what I have been told the small amount of baking soda balances the ph and makes the reaction more stable and last longer.
the 'recipe' I use is 1/3 to a 1/2 cup of sugar. Then add half the water and shake it up then add 1/4 teaspoon of yeast and 1/8 teaspoon of baking soda then shake. Add the rest of the water shake some more. Put the cap and diffuser on and that's it.

To post a pic you go advanced then click on manage attachments, add files, select files, locate files on your computer, upload files and once it is done your pic(s) will be in the bottom row. Click done and your done

 

[KeepOnTheGrass]

Last question regarding the CO2, how much water does your bottle contain (for the recipe).

Well I have taken a couple shots of the ladies, not the best with that hps lighting, but here they are
I know they are a little cramp, the dude that sold me the aquafarm and tent told me I could easily fit 3 plants in that without trimming lol
They are 3xKabala feminized autos originally from seedsoflife.
Its been 34 days since I put them in the tent and they say they will be done in 63 days so they will hopefully be ready in little over a month. I have´nt trimmed them because I´m worried about slowing their growth with their short life spand, although I think it would be beneficial with those cramped conditions.
Please let me know what you think regarding this

 

[Encomium]

Hey looking good there KOTG. My .02 is to prune the bottom 1/3 of your plants. It'd probably delay harvest by a week or so (for them to recover) but I think you'd see an increase in yield. This is especially true if you feel your light penetration is weak on the lower portions of your plants.

Kevin, that CO2 bottle and diffuser you made looks pro. I'm going to have to make something like that for my next grow!

As far as my little auto curer goes nothing was easier since I had everything but the jar handy. I'll be doing another trial tonight but with regularly hang dried buds instead of the water cured buds.

 

[KeepOnTheGrass]

Hey looking good there KOTG. My .02 is to prune the bottom 1/3 of your plants. It'd probably delay harvest by a week or so (for them to recover) but I think you'd see an increase in yield. This is especially true if you feel your light penetration is weak on the lower portions of your plants.

Thank you
Well I read a few pages back that you guys trimmed them aswell.. But then another concern is what to trim and what not to trim. should it be lollipop on the lower third or just cut the branches that shadow but without popcorns on them? what do I do?

And do you think the plants will stay alive long enough to completely make up for the recovery time since they are autos?

Thanks for taking your time to reply to all these questions

 

[KeepOnTheGrass]

ohh and in addition to that while I still remember it
Should I spread the trimming over a few days, not to stress the plants too much?

 

[Encomium]

Thank you
Well I read a few pages back that you guys trimmed them aswell.. But then another concern is what to trim and what not to trim. should it be lollipop on the lower third or just cut the branches that shadow but without popcorns on them? what do I do?

And do you think the plants will stay alive long enough to completely make up for the recovery time since they are autos?

Thanks for taking your time to reply to all these questions

Well when I did my pruning I cut everything below a certain level (about 1/3). I did my pruning all in one day but you could do it in 2-3 days as well.

 

[KevinSmith]

you still got a while to go on your ladies man looking good btw
I would as EC said lollipop the bottoms as I did you can see that in my pics. Depending on height f your plants I would trim all leaves 1/5 to 1/3 of the way up.
I did all the plants like this in one trimming. It turned out great I got popcorn buds burst out everywhere and the colas exploded.

For trimming the fan leaves up top working downwards to give more light to the lower branches and divert more energy into the buds and not leaves (I had some leaves that were 8 inches across, impressive but of no use except looking cool and photosynthesis but I still have enough green to support that fully).
I trimmed about 6 to a dozen leaves per day after week six and keep it up still as needed.
what and what not to trim; only trim the fan leaves that are set alone leave the leaves that are tight and close to the buds. A lot of those leaves will recede into your bud and the points that don't you trim at the end and make butter of hash with

 

[KevinSmith]

the times you get with seeds are guesstimates.
It's all dependent on your conditions. It's usually longer than stated.
You want to get a microscope or jewelers loupe to be able to look at the trichomes.

 

[KevinSmith]

Last question regarding the CO2, how much water does your bottle contain (for the recipe).

Sorry I blazed so I keep missing stuff lol it's 1 litre to the top just over 800 ml is what I fill it to.

 

[KevinSmith]

Starting to think about what to do with trim..
I know how to make cannabutter but I would like to make hash. You guys have an easy way ?
Started reading about it and it can get complicated.. iso, ice ahh\

 

[Encomium]

I'll be using an iceolater type system as it seemed to me the easiest to do. I don't really want to be messing around with explosive crap just quite yet and the other methods I've read about seem much to involved.

 

[KeepOnTheGrass]

Well to be honest I´m still a bit worried about this trimming business.. When I am trimming the lower branches and thinning out the canopy, I should avoid cutting anything with a popcorn on it right? Like you said your plant exploded with popcorns after you trimmed, well one of my plants have already exploded with popcorns and the others are on their way - this is why I am so concerned with trimming and ending up with a smaller yield.

Regarding hash making (finally something I know a little something about ).
First off all I would stay away from all the explosive crap like enco said. First of all it can be pretty dangerous espiecially with no experience and another thing, why not choose a method where you are sure not to get any contamination from these gasses in your final product.
I have tried a couple different ways of making hash including one with buthane gas, and I would recommend the following 2. I have posted a link to some youtube videos just to make the explanation a bit easier, but if you have any question I will of course try to answer them

Bubblebags
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtJs_Uk8TlY&feature=related

With a screen (the moroccan way)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1YkC29Ej20
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiqTDPa77x4

Hope this will be helpful

 

[KevinSmith]

Just trim fan leaves that are not right up against bud sites. Don't worry it's not called weed for nothing it will thrive from some trimming. Right now it is diverting it's energy all over the plant. Reducing some fan leaves will not hurt it and will concentrate that energy on the bud sites more. You leave the ones close to the buds because they will be resinous and that you will trim off at harvest and used for hash or butter
A flowering marijuana plant is basically dying a slow death and it knows it and it wants to pollinate so it can have babies next spring.

Thanks a lot for the hash links

 

[KevinSmith]

Ok so last week I picked one of the smallest branches and dried it and has been curing for 5 days.
As you know from the beginning of my thread here I got 12 mystery seeds for $50 from my local seedbank and was assured that they were premium seeds and I believe them hehe
I planted 6 and got 6 females and they are all doing really great
I was also told that a lot of people were reporting that they were getting blueberry kush from these mystery seeds.
It does look like blueberry but it's so hard to tell exactly Maybe some of you guys can tell better then me...
Here is a pic of one of the curing buds, let me know what you think.