400 Watt HPS Soil Grow,4-XXX Skunks and 1-Green Goo

theWOZZ87 said:

After much deliberation over what to do because the trichomes look so close, I decided to cut the lights back a bit ahead of schedule. I started them today on 10/14 even though my original plan was to cut them back to 8/16 in 4 days. I didn't think the trichs would be so far along so i'm hoping cutting the lights back will help finish off the majority of the hairs and swell the rest of the calyx's. If the girls respond like i'm hoping to the 10/14 over the next 4-5 days I will cut them back again to 8/16 and start a little bit of cold water flushing. Basically I just don't want to end up with too many amber trichs and still all white hairs, you can tell the buds have pretty much maxed out their "frame" size so to speak, they just need to finish filling in and dense up a bit more.

Anyways just over a week from now til I harvest at least the first couple, i'm an anxious person as it is, but waiting right now is making me crazy. Not to mention still all out of bud over here.

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Don't do it!!!! You should ride it out, most screw up harvesting early and not curing at all, and they wonder why the harvest sucked!!!

No worries man, all I have been doing the last two days is reading about how people harvest too early and how it's almost impossible to harvest too late. I'm not trying to speed up my harvest for smoke or anything like that, the trichomes are just crazy huge right now and after all that I have read about them, I would be within my right to take them already. Like I said in the prior post I think this is because of the 8 days of no HPS, since trichs and bud develop in the dark. Now I fully realize that even though the trichs are almost ready, the buds are not, and I know that the majority of the weight bulks on in the last two weeks. So of course I don't want to lose all that extra weight, i'm just changing the lighting to help the rest of the bud bulk up now before all the trichs start to go full on amber. I've been reading a bunch about it like I said and my strain is mostly sativa and is best taken with half or more milky and half or less amber trichs, not fully amber. So just kinda shooting for that.

Also the best and longest thread I read on when to harvest/harvesting too early says that you know your plants best and you need to ignore the pistils changing red and the trichomes turning colors and look at the overall picture/health of your plants and harvest when it feels right. I can almost sense the plants heading toward the end with all the remaining leaves yellowing, pistils withering, smells peaked, most calyxs have swelled to the edges of the buds and are sticking out, there are no new hairs being produced and the last growth spurt of them was several days ago, the buds are hard and seem to be crisp/drying, the lower buds especially and the top colas have stopped filling in, etc. I know all of these are things that happen normally during flowering but the amount "of it" that has taken place in the past week is crazy.

Also as far as curing goes, I don't think I would even smoke a bowl pack without drying it for at least 4-8 days and curing for at least 2 weeks, maybe a month. I even dried and cured all my low grade bagseed i've grown in the past to the fullest before smoking it. I'll have a nice bag of some afghani buds tonight or tomorrow anyways, just more anxious about the whole harvest thing without some green but not so I can smoke it, just anxious all the time about something or other without bud.

Anyways, i'm sticking to the schedule I was on originally which is just over 8 full weeks, for a 7-8 week flowering strain. I'm just trying to keep the bud at the same pace as the trichs by cutting the light back a little and just like I know they aren't ready yet, if they aren't ready on my schedule i'll hold off even longer. The amount of mature crystal glimmering on these right now would make most people even a moderately experienced grower harvest, luckily i have been reading my ass off about waiting as long as possible. Also whenever I do harvest the first couple plants that are further along, I plan on leaving the other plants up to two weeks longer, so that I can let the trichs amber more on one and let them go amber all the way on the last. This should also give me a good idea on what high I liked best and what time is best to harvest them for max weight and still have that awesome high. I will only take each plant as it's ready but i do want to have the different buds with the different cerebral/stoned highs.

Thanks for the concern tho Panda, makes me run through it all in my head again a few more times, nice to know someone else is almost as worried as me. I promise you that when I post my dry yields/smoke report they will be all we both could've ever hoped for.

I have one plant out of the four that has like 2 or 3 times the amount of trichomes on it as the rest, which is pretty crazy because all the plants are smothered in trichs. I'm going out today to buy a 100x handheld magnifier/microscope, its the one recommended in a lot of posts on here. Pretty good deal at radioshack to: ( Illuminated Microscope ).

This thing has about 70x greater power than I even need to see all heads of the glandular stalked trichs, so it should give me a good indication to the level of thc/thc degradation.

As I said in the previous post I want to try and take plants at all the different high levels;In other words I want to harvest one plant that still has some clear trichs, one that has mostly milky, one that is 50/50, and finally let the last go until its all amber. I plan on growing this strain in the future and want to see what high I prefer. That is all, .

That's what's up... That way you'll know for future reference if you grow the strain out again when to harvest to your liking.

Yeah it should work out good, I have 3 clones of it going right now for my next grow. They're hanging out with Ms. Green Goo and my XXL Big Bud seeds should be in any day now. If all goes as planned I will have a mother Goo, Skunk, and Big Bud to clone off of indefinitely.

All of these clones will get 24/0 lights for 2-3 weeks then right under 12/12 and while they do their thing the next clones will be grown and prepared to follow right after. Which should give me a solid harvest every 2 months and in these harvests their will be a group of pure sativas(Goo), a group of almost pure indicas(Big Bud), and lastly a group of nice 50/50(XXX Skunk). I got HIGH hopes anyways.

Just got done "scoping" out my plants. First thing I would recommend to anyone using a high powered scope is to cut off a leaf from your plant to look at, the thing just doesn't work right if you try to hold it up to your plant. The end of it just pushes the leaf/trich out of focus, you need to have the cutting held down on a flat surface to get a decent view. Which is why I wanted a small jewelers loupe/30x pocket magnifier but everywhere I went it was out of stock, figures. I tried for about 15 minutes with the plant and all that resulted is I had a headache after and my new magnifier had a layer of resin/finger hash all on the bottom of its guard from bumping my buds lol. It does work amazing though when you get it just right.

The first leaf sample I took is from what i'm now calling plant #1 because it is the furthest along and will more than likely be harvested first. The scope revealed that about 70% of the trichs had turned a real milky color, with a few amber ones here and there. This is about what I expected because you can see how much larger and whiter all of the crystals are on this one from across the room. This make me strongly consider pulling this one in the next week for sure seeing as I want the first one I take to have at least some clear crystal left on it. I'm just going to wait at least another 3-4 days to see if more leaves/pistils continue dying and closely monitor the trichomes to not let this one go much amber. I was planning on taking this one first anyways, its my smallest plant by far and the buds look like they have filled in the most.

The second plants trichomes also showed about 70% to be milky with a few amber but had much less large trichomes that plant #1, making me think it might still have a lot more resin to put out although probably 2-3 times more hairs have turned red and died on this plant than any other. It will most likely come down the same time or right after plant #1.

Plant 3 had a very nice grouping of large glandular trichs, not quite as many as #1 but more than #2. It also showed that most of these trichomes were still immature with about 75-80% still clear. This plant isn't far away from the others it just needs to mature those trichs up a bit and start receding hairs and will be ready. I will probably try and let this plant go until about half of the trichs go full amber.

Finally plant #4 had clear trichomes similar to plant #3 just not as large or numerous. It also seems to be the only plant still filling in with pistils quite a bit and has almost no red/dying hairs at all. It will by far take the longest to harvest but I want one plant with more amber trichs and it should have plenty of time if it continues filling in. This plant or plant #3 should be the highest yields of the bunch.

I can feel the excitement in the air every time I go in my grow room. They say with sativas you have about a 14-day window to harvest at peak, 7-with indicas. My strain is 60/40 sativa to indica and at least with the first couple plants i'm positive that I have entered that harvest window. Just have to leave them alone now to bulk up as long as possible. Peace

That's what's up!!! The way you described plant #2, you should probably pull that first. Maybe even in a day or two. Unless you want the majority of your plants to give you that couch lock effect. Well thats my thoughts from the way you described the plants. Can't wait for the harvest!!

Today is the beginning of week number 7 and harvest time is right around the corner. After some even further studying of plant #1 and #2 I have concluded that the trichomes are right about where I want them for the first partial harvest. They both have about 15% clear/80% milky/5% amber and plant #2 is just about at 70-80% dead/dying pistils. Therefore I have stopped watering plant #2 and plan on separating it and giving it total darkness for just over 24 hours after the light period tomorrow. I will then harvest plant #2 Friday afternoon and take a very good look at plant #1 and possibly begin its dark period before harvest, i'm just waiting for another 15-25% of its pistils to wither.

Also I cut back the lights on all the plants in the flowering room to 8/16, I figure based on how close they are it couldn't hurt for them to double the bud/resin making effort at night. Most of the leaves besides the bottom sets are pretty green still and I want that plant to put all of its life force into the bud before I take them down, so I think 8/16 will work nicely for this.

Just wanted to throw in there too that I had been reducing the amount of fert. throughout week 6 and the last few days have been giving them nothing but straight water with a little molasses mixed in. My grow is 100% organic anyways so flushing isn't an issue and I sampled a quick dried and uncured bud about a week ago and it was very smooth and had no harsh or chemical taste at all, with a nice skunky aftertaste.

I'm guessing that the other two plants will still be on schedule to finish by the end of the 7th week but they have up to 14 days if need be before I want to get my other clones and sprouts under the HPS.

Is it just me and you left Panda? It sure is a cold world out there, but at least we have each other, lmao.

LOL..... I don't know..... But I do know that I'm super baked!

Ok, so after looking at a ton of threads and thousands of posts I have decided to let plants #1 and #2 go at least another week. Although the trichomes are where I want on both plants, plant #1 still has a lot of white hairs even tho they have receded and withered. Plant #2 has a ton of red hairs but i'm hoping her calyx's may swell a bit more, her buds are almost fluffy compared to all the other plants that have really hard/dense buds.

I figure I can put up with some more amber trichs if I can get a little more weight/size out of her. Anyways with the light cut back and the plants already looking so close I am positive the first two will be ready by this time next week, with the other two following the same time the week after. Which is almost perfect because its a 7-8 week strain and that will put the first harvest at the beginning of their 8th week and the last harvest at the beginning of their 9th week. Which also happens to be right on schedule for when I want to start my clones/new seeds under the HPS

Anyways i'll have enough time to dry the first two plants for about a week and give a bunch of the smaller buds a good 1 1/2 week cure before Christmas. Obviously I will be leaving the total harvest to cure for at least 3 weeks to a month before its officially ready but i'll have a separate jar of the small nugs that will be a Christmas present to myself, with a happy new year!

Some pictures from half way through week 7, 1-2 weeks left depending on which plant.

Bud Porn :









They look so tasty!!! What everyone's opinions on time left/yield/anything else. All constructive input is more than welcome. I can't even stand to wait for them!!!!!

Man that is out of sight, that is the first bud ive seen since purple tha really looks just like what it's name is green goo? woooooo hooooo great looking buds and gro woz i wish i wasa fly on your sissors when you chop them girls..Rep coming

Damn, its starting to look so nice.

Thanks a lot guys and nice to hear from ya Stinkbudd. These plants are all Early XXX Super Skunk (same as the pic in my avatar). The green goo or its official name "the Goo" is a seed I sprouted and sexed along with the skunk plants and is now is my veg/mother/clone chamber on 24/0 and it is a pure sativa. I got it out of some bud by the same name I had been smoking for a few weeks.

I just got confirmation from some serious growers on RIU that my plants are in fact within my harvest window. The first couple plants have a little over a week left and the last ones have just over 2 weeks. Although one plant is far ahead of the others and I wouldn't be surprised if some/all of it comes down within the next week. I been puffing on some blue dream to keep me sane, take it easy guys and stay high.

theWOZZ87 said:

Thanks a lot guys and nice to hear from ya Stinkbudd. These plants are all Early XXX Super Skunk (same as the pic in my avatar). The green goo or its official name "the Goo" is a seed I sprouted and sexed along with the skunk plants and is now is my veg/mother/clone chamber on 24/0 and it is a pure sativa. I got it out of some bud by the same name I had been smoking for a few weeks.

I just got confirmation from some serious growers on RIU that my plants are in fact within my harvest window. The first couple plants have a little over a week left and the last ones have just over 2 weeks. Although one plant is far ahead of the others and I wouldn't be surprised if some/all of it comes down within the next week. I been puffing on some blue dream to keep me sane, take it easy guys and stay high.

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See now you are talking that looks like the ole school skunk i use to smoke back in the days. That light green sticky as hell funky stuff man oh boy my mind just wonders about the old humblt skunk...

They look fucking grrrrrreat man! they're staying nice and green! great looking buds ....i dunno if i subscribed yet but i am now. great job brotha! I'd say two more weeks for sure IMO. I bet they still have some weight to pack on. in any case they're gonna be delicious.

Yeah 3 out of the 4 have definitely got 2 weeks or more but their is one plant that is rapidly changing and I think almost all of its leaves/pistils will be dead within a week from now. Which works for me anyways because it has the most dense/resin filled bud of them all and its the smallest plant/runt of the group. So even if I don't take the whole thing down, I will take at least a lot of the bottom/side buds off. Also it's trichs are far more advanced and going amber fast compared to the rest of the plants which are reaching their peak with the milky trichs. Thanks for the kind words I hope it all works out good because it will give me even higher hopes for my next 12/12-2 month grow. Peace.

I love all of my beautiful girls equally but plant #3's leaves, resin, and bud smells/tastes just like fresh made lemonade. It's completely intoxicating and it doesn't hurt that this plant is going to be the biggest/2nd biggest yielder of the bunch. Plant #1 and #2 smell/taste just like a sweet fruity skunk, the fruity part reminds me almost of lavender or grape. Plant #4 smells very intense almost like a skunky disinfectant cleaner or something. You can almost see from the different ways they've grown/budded that their may be several phenotypes. For this reason I am going to keep each plant separated during the drying/curing process, so I can enjoy the different flavors and hopefully different high's. I just happened to take 2 clones from the lemonade smelling plant and 1 from the sweet-skunk smelling plant, which is kool because they are my favorite stink by far.

Good/Bas News Update!!! Plant #3 was looking really shitty with all it's leaves browning and dying from the middle outward and had me really worried, so she has been harvested. None of my other plants were even starting to show dying leaves yet and all of them were almost gone on plant #1. I know that she is probably just over a week pre-mature but this is the smallest runt of all four plants and was definitely the closest to being done.

The buds are beautiful and healthy and for that I am grateful, I am just a little disappointed with the overall wet weight, even though it was the smallest plant by far. She gave just over an oz. of trimmed wet buds and 3.5 grams of sugar leaves/small nugs. After all the harvests i've studied I have come to the conclusion that most pure sativas loose 4/5 of the wet weight, 50/50 loses 3/4, and pure indicas lose about 2/3. This means I should end up with a little over a quarter dry weight.

The only good thing is that this lets me gauge how long to leave the other plants which are 3, 4, and 5x times larger than the one just harvested. I was hoping for an 1oz-1.5oz per plant dried and I think for the last 3 plants this will definitely be the case. That is all for now I will try and post a picture or two of them hanging and drying, peace.

Here are some harvest pictures of my 1st "little" girl. XXX Super Skunk Harvest Drying:






Like I said before, I wish this one was a little more but if the other ones yield like they look I should have a nice qp or more and this bud is insane. Got me and a buddy baked off the nice scissor/finger hash from this little girl.

Anyways the next harvest wont be for at least 9 more days and I have one plant which is really big and is looking like it might need almost 16 more days. I'll try and keep you posted til then, stay high, peace out.