200w+ CFL scrog in the attic

ourkansaw

Active Member
Just got home, all is well. It's right around the end of 10 weeks of 12/12 right now and these are definitely harvestable, though not done. Which might need to happen sooner than later since I am having to move out of my house soon, and I kinda want it dried and cured and the whole grow box dismantled before anyone starts talking about pre-move-out inspections or anything.

No pictures tonight, I'll try to update them tomorrow. Too tired, just want to sleep right now.

P.S. I had plucked a tiny side cola (maybe 1-2g at most) before leaving for vacation and left it out to dry. Obviously it's not cured yet, but it was just about the perfect level of dryness, so I just had some. Very pleasant and pretty strong. So I'm not too worried about having to harvest early. Perhaps it'll help accentuate the sativa dominance and THC ratio.
 

ourkansaw

Active Member
The wait is over!

So I switched to a different lens on my camera, which allows me to use my flash in the photos. However, it does not zoom in as close, so no macro shots today. As you can see, the colas are fattening up nicely, though still plenty of white hairs. This is the end of week 10 of 12/12, day 70 is today.

Whatever pH/deficiency issue I have is getting a lot worse, but I'm probably harvesting in one week, so I won't sweat it. I'm also including a couple pictures below of the plant that is a clone I took after 20-something days of 12/12 when I accidentally snapped off a small side branch. Interestingly, it seems to be a bit behind the main plant, even though it was already flowering when I cloned it. Makes me think cloning will prolong your flowering period. Anyhow, without further adieu, the photos:













 

ourkansaw

Active Member
How does it smell?
Smells like mango lemonade with a hint of pine, I'd say. Though the dried sample I clipped 10 days ago smells a lot spicier and more predominantly piney. Also smokes pretty smoothly already.

So, as much as it pains me to do it, I had no choice but to harvest today. My landlord is already inquiring about doing an inspection over the next couple weeks, and I need to dismantle my grow box, dry/cure the buds, and air out the attic so that it doesn't reek quite so much. I know it would have been better to wait another 3-5 weeks (or longer even), and I plan to with this strain next time. I'm keeping a small clone, which can be easily concealed and transported to my next house, where I'll start over from scratch.

Below are some pre- and post-harvest photos. I folded over my screen to use as a drying rack for the bigger canopy-level buds. All the trim and under-canopy buds went into a 13-cup tupperware, which I nearly filled. The fan leaves/stalks went into a 3-gal bucket, which would have been full if I hadn't kept compressing it down to make room. I plan to smoke the bigger buds, make a tincture with the under-canopy buds and trim, and compost the bucket contents.

And now the photos: #1 and #2 are canopy shots just before harvesting, #3 is a closeup shot from the same time, #4 shows the main colas pressed in the screen drying rack, #5 shows the trim/under-canopy tupperware, and #6 and #7 show the stump left behind. Enjoy!

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#7:

 

ourkansaw

Active Member
How long till you set up in the new house?
Depends, as we're on a flexible moving-out schedule where we can extend the lease one additional month if we fail to find another house in time. So it could be early August, but might be early September. I'm hoping I won't have to do it in the attic this time, but we shall see.

I'll update with dry weight and a smoke report soon and then some photos of dried/cured bud as I start smoking my way through it.
 

ourkansaw

Active Member
The drying method wasn't working too well (pieces kept falling out through the screen), so I just transferred it onto parchment paper, with another sheet over the top to keep off dust, etc. I decided to take a photo since this was a better display of the harvest. There are two small-to-medium sized colas missing from this photo, as they had been harvested earlier, and were already curing in a jar at this point.

 

ourkansaw

Active Member
It's pretty well dried out now, as all but the thickest stems are snapping with almost no bending first. So I weighed it and sealed it up to do some slower curing/drying.

The "smokables" come in at about 80g, and the trim/lower buds that are destined for tincture are an additional 27g. I rolled a couple joints with the earlier-dried smokables over the weekend, and it already smoked really smoothly. The high is a really clean sativa head-high. The potency could be a little higher, and obviously it would have been if I'd been able to let it flower another few weeks. But I actually like being able to sit down and smoke most of a joint before I'm obliterated, so this is a good potency for me.

I am fast-tracking the tincture-destined pile, so it's spread on a tray in the oven right now, which I had turned on to 200F and then turned off. Once the oven is completely cooled down it should be ready to grind and begin the tincture process.

EDIT: After drying in the oven, the trim/popcorn is down to 25.5g, and now it's pretty dry. I ground it up and I'm going to let it dry out some more for another week before tincture time.
 

ourkansaw

Active Member
Since I just made a batch of tincture, I thought I'd share my recipe/process, which I have adapted from Master Wu's revised recipe (available here). I will adopt Master Wu's basic format, but you should definitely read his recipe if you want more background information and details.

First, an overview of the process:
The basic purpose of the tincture-creation process is to produce an alcohol solution that contains the active compounds in cannabis, including THC. This requires that the cannabis be dried thoroughly, chopped finely, heated briefly, and then simmered in high-proof alcohol, before being strained and stored. Simply following those steps in a general way will probably result in a tincture of some sort. However, by starting with Master Wu's great recipe -- and by modifying it through trial and error -- I have arrived at what I believe to be the best way to get a solidly high-potency extract.

Here are the ingredients and equipment required for the quantity I usually make in each batch:

4 to 5 fl oz of Everclear (95% alcohol variety)
1/3 oz of high-quality cannabis
A sheet of aluminum foil
An oven and stove
A 500ml Erlenmeyer flask
A pot of water into which you can place the flask, either upright or tilted to one side
A small funnel (food-grade, never used for nasty chemicals)
A small wire-mesh flour sifter or other fine-mesh strainer that will fit into the funnel
A heat-resistant measuring cup that shows 0.25 oz (or at least 0.5 oz) increments (an old glass baby's bottle works great, though a graduated cylinder would be best)
Three 1/2 oz amber bottles with droppers (these are the ones I use)

And, finally, the steps:

(1) {OPTIONAL} I start weeks beforehand by making sure the bud I plan to use will be extra-extra dry. In other words, leave the lid off the jar where you keep it, preferably for a few weeks, but at least for a few days. This step is optional since you'll be baking it later, but I've found it helps to maximize the efficiency of the extraction.

(2) As the first step on the tincture-making day, grind the herb as finely as you can. I start by chopping finely with scissors, then put that in my granite mortar & pestle, where I grind it to a fine powder. The bits of stem will remain fibrous (remember, this is hemp), but the buds should powder completely.

(3) Fold up the edges of the sheet of aluminum foil, creating a makeshift tray, and spread the powdered herb as thinly as you can.

(4) Place the herb into a pre-heated oven at 300 degrees F, and leave it there until it starts to turn slightly golden-green (about 8-12 minutes, depending on how dry it was). Your kitchen will smell like someone is vaporizing your pot, but have no fear, the active compounds should not be evaporating much at this low of a temperature for such a short period.

(5) Carefully remove the herb from the oven and gently reshape the aluminum into a funnel-like shape. Pour the baked cannabis into the Erlenmeyer flask, and add half the Everclear (2 to 2.5 fl oz).

(6) Simmer the Erlenmeyer flask in a water bath (i.e., resting in a pot of water on the stove or a hot plate), keeping the water just below its boiling point until the ethanol starts to boil in the flask (5-10 minutes). Turn the stove to medium-high to quickly bring the water to a boil, then turn off the stove. Swirl the flask around to agitate and mix, but leave the flask in the water bath. The ethanol should continue to boil for a few minutes as the water cools from around 210F to 170F (ethanol's boiling point). Wait an additional 5-10 minutes after the ethanol stops boiling before moving to the next step.

(7) Pour the Everclear/cannabis mixture through the strainer and funnel into the baby bottle or graduated cylinder, pressing the cannabis with the back of a spoon to squeeze out as much liquid as you can.

{8} Return the cannabis solids to the Erlenmeyer flask, add the remainder of the Everclear, repeat steps 6 and 7, then either discard cannabis mixture or spread it out to dry. I like to dry it and use it as filler in joints, but there is very little THC left in it.

(9) You should now have somewhere on the order of 2 to 4 ounces of tincture, but it is not as potent as it can be. Place the bottle/graduated cylinder into a water bath in a bowl on the countertop (not the stove), replacing the water with hot tap water once it cools. Repeat as necessary until the tincture has evaporated down to 1.5 ounces.

(10) Transfer the concentrated tincture into the dropper vials. You're done!

You will need to self-titrate to determine how potent each batch is, and what the effective dosage is. I find that about a half dropperful is enough for me with most batches, but I tend to have a fairly low tolerance compared to most people who are regular smokers. At my dosing rate, I get about 25-30 doses per vial, or about 80-90 doses per 1/3 oz of bud. You might want to increase the herb-to-Everclear ratio if you're using bud trim and less-potent lower-level buds, like I did this time, but since you're going to self-titrate, it's not vitally important.
 

georgyboy

Active Member
Just read the master wu post and I will be doing this as soon as I harvest and dry. I don't need to cure the bud to make Green Dragon right?
 

georgyboy

Active Member
O yeah and great harvest man. I really enjoyed your grow and your tasty pics. Hope you journal your adventures in your new home also.
 

ourkansaw

Active Member
Just read the master wu post and I will be doing this as soon as I harvest and dry. I don't need to cure the bud to make Green Dragon right?
Definitely shouldn't need to cure. The goal should be for it to be as dry as possible, much more dry than you'd want if you were smoking it.

If you're planning to use trim and under-canopy buds, I'd recommend increasing the amount to half an ounce per 1.5oz final product, or else your dose will need to be larger than it would be if you were using the best bud for it.
 

stoneslacker

Well-Known Member
Man I missed alot! Very nice final yield on that silver ourkansas. I must give props, your canopy was one of the nicest I have seen, and I am hoping my next grow will be under more optimal conditions and I can achieve something similar. The heat this summer has repeatedly kicked me in the balls and I am crawling to finish line hopefully by this weekend. Going to wait till Oct. and try again! I have a line on some super lemon cuttings I hope follow through. Although I would prefer your silver as that looks so damn sativa-ey. (sativa-ish?) Too bad you were not able to let her go a full 14 weeks, that would have been beautiful.
 

ourkansaw

Active Member
Yeah, I'm struggling right now to keep one clone of this lady alive in sub-optimal conditions. Just like most of our continent, I've had to deal with some ridiculously hot days over the last couple weeks, and I've already made significant progress dismantling and cleaning up my grow area. That means the two plants I've been keeping alive (both pretty small clones) have been in the basement, attic, two closets, and of course my bedroom, all in a matter of days, depending on where was best at that moment.

One of those is my mother/preservation clone, under 24/0, and the other is "Snap," the clone I took in the middle of 12/12 when I accidentally broke a branch off. Snap's been flowering just as long as the original ScrOG, but she never got more than like 8" tall since she was snapped off after a few weeks of 12/12. No veg at all after rooting! Just a single cola from soil to tip. I'll upload a picture this week whenever I decide to cut her down, I think she still needs a couple more days at least, maybe even a full week. Some of her leaves are starting to yellow in the way I associate with the final stages of flowering, but the flowers themselves still have about 1/2 their hairs white, so I think they have some plumping to do.

Now, Snap is a really interesting case study for me, because this is exactly the size and type of plant I was hoping to produce in my SOG. It never got too big for a single 42w CFL positioned directly overhead with a 10.5" clamp reflector. As you'll see from the bud structure when I upload a picture, this is in no way "popcorn" or fluffy. This is a dense cola that was grown under a single 26w bulb (1700 lumens) for the entire time since the cutting was taken. This didn't change until I harvested the ScrOG two weeks ago, when I switched that out for a single 42w bulb (2800 lumens).

This makes me think that removing lesser branches from a ScrOG around the 3rd week of 12/12 might be beneficial both for the ScrOG (focus its energy) and for the cuttings, as I could turn them into super-mini clones under individual CFLs. Therefore, I propose that my growing operation should look something like this:

(1) Germinate seed(s) as desired.
(2) FIM early, FIM often, to produce as many growing tops as I can.
(3) {OPTIONAL} Take one or more clones prior to switching to 12/12, for motherly purposes.
(4) After 20-30 days of 12/12, do a generous pruning of any branches that look like they might not get good light, or which block the light of healthier branches.
(5) Put each cutting under a 26w CFL, continuing the 12/12 regime.
(6) Harvest a ScrOG and a SOG, side-by-side, from the same seed.
(7) Repeat as desired, either from (1) or from (3).

Any thoughts?

One other thing I've considered is you could also use a similar technique for a very tiny micro-cab grow, with minor modifications. You could skip the FIM part, go straight to 12/12, but still take the top as a cutting after 3-4 weeks. Keep that under 12/12, and perhaps it will not veg anymore. The way I see it, if this can be done with a stretchy plant like Super Silver, it should be a very adaptable technique.
 
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