CptTripps' first grow journal.

Eliehabib said:

Regarding the TSW2000 , here's a pic of what i did to mine to keep temps to a minimum. Seems to be working great. Its a 22W pc fan blowing air straight onto the boards ! 24/7

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The air coming out of my drying tent is a constant 72-deg, so I ordered another 10' of dryer hose and was going to run it over the top of the boards. I did an experiment with one of them (it is as far as the existing hose will reach) and it's keeping the TSW3000 a lot cooler. Actually dropped the temp in the tent by a few degrees. So I think the idea might just work. (Plus, ducting always makes the tent look cooler!)

If that doesn't work, I'll give the fans a try...for sure. I'm peaking at 90 in there right now, and that's a little too hot.

CptTripps said:

So, looking at my tric pics, would you say I'm at 100% cloudy? That's kinda what I'm thinking right now looking at those pics.

It's true, I'm doing this for medical purposes. Although, she never minds getting high too! I was planning on taking a look next Monday, and if it looked right, chopping next Wednesday. My Bruce Banner plants are starting to come into flower, and I'll have new seeds this week, so If I can move the Diesels out of the tent, I'll have room for 2 more.

I'm also experimenting with defoliation. I did a pretty serious defoliating on one of the Diesels, and left the other alone. I'm doing the same thing on the BB plants. Seeing what the yields do in both scenarios. Whatever works best for me is what I'll do with the rest of my plants.

Then, I have another thread going about nutes. I'm doing an experiment with the two White Widow and two Blueberry plants to test out two different nute schedules. Testing Chicken Soup for the Soil against the GH Flora trio. CSFTS is definitely easier and organic, but are the results better/worse than the GH trio? I'll have data!

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What I see in that one photo looks very close, if not 100%, cloudy but you might want to double check with the trichs that are closer to the bottom to be sure. If they look about the same than I'd chop it.

Just Be said:

What I see in that one photo looks very close, if not 100%, cloudy but you might want to double check with the trichs that are closer to the bottom to be sure. If they look about the same than I'd chop it.

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Just went down there ant took some pics. Here's how things are looking...I'll let you be the judge. I'm still new at this, so it's all a guess until I do it a few times. All taken from the lower/bottom bud sites. (Sorry for the fuzzy-ash pics. Holding a 500X microscope still enough to snap a pic is tougher than it looks.)

Diesel #1





Diesel #2

So, after looking at these against other pics here, I don't think waiting another 4-5 days is going to kill me. Maybe I'll start just using pH'd water for the next few waterings with a lot of run-off and then put them in the dark for 24h on Saturday. Chop on Mon or Tues. Thoughts?

I'd chop now but that's just me.

Just Be said:

I'd chop now but that's just me.

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Welp....that settles it then. Gives me something fun to do today!

Time to start reading about the best procedure for chopping.

I would wait a couple days though , because you clearly still got a couple half transparent half milky trichomes going. In the meantime start your flushing process (at least 2 waterings before you chop) , then go for the 24h dark period.

I decided to do one plant, and not the other. One of them had 100% milky tricombs, and the other still had some clear on the lower bud sites.

Ok....that was an ordeal. I had no idea what I was in for. Trimming is a much bigger PITA than I thought it would be. I decided I'm going to do a "wet trim" on this plant, and then a "dry trim" on the other to see which is easier/better.

Spent the last 3h doing one plant. This is what it looked like...

Pre-chop:



Got all the fan leaves off, and made a pile with the branches that I was going to trim.



One at a time...this took forever, and I'm still not entirely sure what I'm doing here. But one thing is certain, I've got plenty here to play with and a lot more on the way. So I ought to be a pro at some point...right?



Got them all trimmed as much as I thought practical. Then into the tent they went.



This was "Diesel #2" for those of you playing along at home. I'm going to let it sit in the drying tent for a week and then do the same to "Diesel #1" I'll keep them all in separate jars, and will have people tell me which one is better, since I can't partake myself.

...and now I'm looking at a tent with 9 more plants and wondering how long it'll take before I actually enjoy the trimming process and get somewhat good at it. I was aiming for 4oz per plant, and I think I'm going to be WELL over that after everything drys and cures. I may have too much weed...

Nice harvest man! Trimming really is the worst part of growing, at least for me. I enjoy it for about 10 minutes haha. I actually do two trims these days, a wet trim for the big stuff and a dry trim to clean them up, and part of the reason is just to break up the amount of time I spend trimming in one sitting!

Gentlemencorpse said:

Nice harvest man! Trimming really is the worst part of growing, at least for me. I enjoy it for about 10 minutes haha. I actually do two trims these days, a wet trim for the big stuff and a dry trim to clean them up, and part of the reason is just to break up the amount of time I spend trimming in one sitting!

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...and that was just one of the two plants I have to do. I've been spacing the second one out over the course of the day. It's actually much bigger, I think. I'm keeping them separated and will weigh the finished product when I'm done curing in a month. But, yeah...trimming really sucks. I see why the people that trim for a living in California make good money and are in high demand. I can't imagine wanting to do that for a living.



In other news, I had a snafu with the the three Bruce Banners I was growing. Turns out they weren't autos after all. I was wondering why they were getting so damn tall, and hadn't flowered in the 5 weeks they've been growing. So I emailed the seed bank a few days ago and they got back to me. Essentially "Oops...we had those listed incorrectly on our website. Sorry bout that."

So rather than put the whole tent into 12/12 and mess up the other 5 plants in there, I decided to take my spare TSW2000 and put it in the 3X3 drying tent at 18/6. This leaves only 3 BB and one Diesel auto in the 4X8. The Diesel is an Auto, but I can sacrifice yield on it, as the yield on the other two I had was FAR better than I was expecting. So I'll have plenty of it. The 3rd BB is also on the smaller side, but he's had 25d of Veg, so he can go into flower right now. The other two BB are huge, so that'll make up for the missing yield on the 3rd one. I'd originally thought of putting the BBs in the 3X3 but when I did, they filled the entire tent wall-to-wall and it was really cramped with 3 plants in there. SO I flipped it and used the 4X8 as a flower tent for now.

Confusing...I know....but I have it all worked out. So this is what it looks like right now.



I ended up finding a TV box that I am now drying the harvested diesels in for the next week or so until they get jarred.



So it's not the situation I wanted, but I think I made the best of it. This puts me off on my schedule by 3-4 weeks, so I'm trying to think of a different situation for getting seedlings going in 3 weeks. I guess it all depends on how fast the BB flower and finish. They're supposed to be the "Fast Version" so we'll see if that holds up!

Stuck my head in the tents this morning, and everything is humming along. I'm not familiar with photos at all, so I don't know how long it's going to take to get them kicked into "flower mode" but I guess I'll just watch and see.

Turned off the 3rd light in that tent this morning. The one off to the right where I'd normally have seedlings. No sense in wasting the electricity. Nothing over there right now, and the other 4 plants are at the other end of the tent.

Question: should I switch them back to having the 5 autos in the big tent, and the 3 photos in the 3X3? Even though it's cramped in there?

Kinda messed with my mojo/routine. It's a bummer for sure to have the two tents going like this, but it's the best I could come up with.

Bummer on the BB's turning out to be photos. Not the end of the world though. Atleast you had that option of putting them in your smaller tent.

CptTripps said:

Stuck my head in the tents this morning, and everything is humming along. I'm not familiar with photos at all, so I don't know how long it's going to take to get them kicked into "flower mode" but I guess I'll just watch and see.

Turned off the 3rd light in that tent this morning. The one off to the right where I'd normally have seedlings. No sense in wasting the electricity. Nothing over there right now, and the other 4 plants are at the other end of the tent.

Kinda messed with my mojo/routine. It's a bummer for sure to have the two tents going like this, but it's the best I could come up with.

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From my reading, you are looking at 1-3 weeks of pre-flower before actual flowering starts. Watch out for the stretch as your BB's are pretty big already. You may have to start tying branches down to keep your canopy at a height you are OK with.

Poobzilla said:

From my reading, you are looking at 1-3 weeks of pre-flower before actual flowering starts. Watch out for the stretch as your BB's are pretty big already. You may have to start tying branches down to keep your canopy at a height you are OK with.

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Yeah, that's what I was afraid of. They're just going to get bigger. I'm going to be stuck like this for the next 6-8wks. Maybe I SHOULD move the BBs to the 3X3 and just live with them being stuffed in there so I can continue along with the 4X8 just growing autos. I was noticing how big they were today. I'm not sue the 3X3 will cut it, and the 4X8 will end up filled out with these three plants. I'm stymied right now.

I'm not sure where in the hell I'd put it, but I'm honestly considering a 4X4 for these three BBs just until they finish. Then I'd have 3 tents though. Ugh. This is all so confusing. Maybe I'll just give up on the BBs altogether and pitch them. Seems like a damn shame though. They're so happy and healthy.

OR....I could kill off the baby BB, move the two bigger ones into the 3X3, and put all the autos back in the 4X8 and plant more next week.

CptTripps said:

Yeah, that's what I was afraid of. They're just going to get bigger. I'm going to be stuck like this for the next 6-8wks. Maybe I SHOULD move the BBs to the 3X3 and just live with them being stuffed in there so I can continue along with the 4X8 just growing autos. I was noticing how big they were today. I'm not sue the 3X3 will cut it, and the 4X8 will end up filled out with these three plants. I'm stymied right now.

I'm not sure where in the hell I'd put it, but I'm honestly considering a 4X4 for these three BBs just until they finish. Then I'd have 3 tents though. Ugh. This is all so confusing. Maybe I'll just give up on the BBs altogether and pitch them. Seems like a damn shame though. They're so happy and healthy.

OR....I could kill off the baby BB, move the two bigger ones into the 3X3, and put all the autos back in the 4X8 and plant more next week.

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Kind of a drag but if that's the biggest problem in your life right now then you're doing alright.

At least they’re replacing the seeds...and I kind of have a backup plan, so all is not lost I guess.

After some thought, I flip-flopped the flower plants to the smaller tent. I'm going to let the 3rd BB veg a little longer (maybe 2 more weeks) and then put him in the 3X3 with the other gals. Ideal: No. Practical: Yes. I have 5 other Autos that wouldn't work in the 3X3, and more seeds on the way. If I want to stay on schedule, this is the only way I'm going to be able to do this without adding a 3rd tent that I don't have room for.

So....it'll be a little stuffed in the 3X3 for a month to two, but I've seen pics on here of people growing like this with great success, so I'll give it a go and see what happens. In the meantime, the 4X8 will keep chugging along and this will only be a month or two delay on what I had planned. I'll still be harvesting plenty of flower, just a month off schedule. With the yield I got from the two Diesels that I chopped this week, I'm not going to be lacking for flower in that time.

With the rate that the 3rd Diesel is going, I'll be harvesting the BBs at about the same time as her, so it'll be interesting to see the amounts that I have after that.

Bruce Banner girls have shot up another 6" since I moved them to the 3X3 flower tent. This may get too cramped in there if this keeps up. I had to rig the light so it could go up another 6", as the branches were only about 6" from the light. I may be screwed here, or need to "super crop" the top branches. Gotta read up on that. I think I'm ok for the time being though. (they just got watered...no need to comment on the saggy leaves.)

BB #3 is starting to stretch too. She's gained about 4" since I threw her in here a few days ago.



Drying is going just fine in the cardboard box. They've lost a lot of weight already. I'm thinking another 3-4 days and then I'll be ready to jar everything for curing. Buds aren't as dense as I would have liked/hoped. Maybe they tighten up in time? No clue. Again....first grow. Mistakes and learning is what this is all about.

Just read through the grow. Looking awesome and very well done! I remember trimming my minuscule harvest on my first grow. I didn't even harvest a lot and it got old quick. Keep on rocking it.

Flower tent: Look at the pic from yesterday.....and then look at this pic from today. Neither plant was up to the power strip, let alone near the top of the fan yesterday. They gained about 6" overnight. This may become an issue....



Auto Tent: Everyone is chugging along. There's a serious difference in growth from the two plants I am using GH Trio on, and the ones I'm using Chicken Soup for the Soul on. I started a thread about it that I'll be posting these pics to. Amazing. I think this is a great nutrient setup.



More seeds should be here today, so I'll have three more plants added to the Auto tent this week. They'll go into napkins as soon as they get here, so I should be planting by Wednesday. I plan on trimming the drying buds a bit more and jarring them on Wednesday too. Big week! I get to see what my harvest actually looks like in terms of weight/yield.

Ok...7d later and it's time to jar these bad boys.

I checked the stems this morning. They snap, but still remain connected. the buds are a little crunchy on the outside, but still soft in the middle. From what I've read, this is what I'm looking for, so all clear.

I'm a little concerned about the hay smell. Could be from the cardboard box I've been drying in...could just mean they need cured...I have no clue. Reading other threads right now to see what the deal is there.

In short: Dry trimming really sucks. I should have spent more time wet trimming the sugar leaves when it was wet. I did one plant dry, and one plant wet to see the difference. Starting to jar the dry plant now, and it's a royal PITA. I did 2-3 of the 8 branches so far, and I've netted about 1.2oz already. I don't think 6oz out of this harvest is going to be a problem, so I'm in the black on my whole setup already!

I'll post pics later today when I'm done. This is going to be a long day with scissors in my hand...