Drowning Plant Prior To Harvest

Brimi

Well-Known Member
Hehe, yes - but back to the drowning. I have just setup two plants for flushing now. They will be flushed for a whole week, and next week i will sit them in a bucket of water for another week. Looking very forward to try this. If it works it's worth a try. Pretty easy for me to test it with individual plants in the ebb and flow. Smoke report will follow from here too.
 

riddleme

Well-Known Member
Hehe, yes - but back to the drowning. I have just setup two plants for flushing now. They will be flushed for a whole week, and next week i will sit them in a bucket of water for another week. Looking very forward to try this. If it works it's worth a try. Pretty easy for me to test it with individual plants in the ebb and flow. Smoke report will follow from here too.
10 to 12 days is better than a week, depending on the vigor of the plant it may not give up in 7 days
 

rastakolnikov

Well-Known Member
@riddleme: if you were to do this in a dwc would you just fill the reservoir with plain water and turn off the air?
Or should i just leave the roots in the nute solution with no air til i would usually flush (i generally don't flush for more than 5 days) and then replace with the water
 

riddleme

Well-Known Member
have a friend that did it for 12 days and yes he just filled tanks with water and turned off the air, was smokable right after drying
 

endogarden

New Member
Sorry to bump such an old thread, but I am on day 2 of week 8, and I want to try drowning. I have (3) 3x3 flood trays on the floor of my grow tent on 5" wood blocks, the drains are blocked off. The trays can be filled about 5"-6" high, which is significantly lower than the top of the rootpots my botanicare coco coir is in.

If I want to drown the 11, 13, and 15 plants in each of the 3 trays, can I just flood the trays, and constantly keep topping them up by top feeding the root pots? Or is coco too well aerated for so short a tray?

Also I have concerns from bekindbud's experiment/experience:



Originally Posted by bekindbud
My plant really sucked up the Water/Mol alot quicker than just water. I had to top her off a few times. Yesterday morning I topped her off and it wasnt much but it seems to stop sucking water and this morning when I checked the plant her top of the cola was very flimsy like. Reason I say that is that before I drowned my plant the bud was very tight, dense and hard. So I didnt know why this morning the top was all sqwishy like, so I said thats all and chopped.

The bud overall IMO is sweet fresh smelling and sticky. It seems to have changed alittle with smell during the process. Also not as dense as it was a few days ago but I am not sure why it got flimsy today. Anyone think or know why?



Does anyone who has drowned before (no ghosts please) know know why the bud lost density? Also could it have affected dry weight?

Any help or information would be greatly appreciated, I am in the process of aquiring a secret jardin dry tent to put the multi-level fabric growbox dry net I already have inside of.

I have zero space for curing or drying and this seems like the best plan for me, as it is collapsable and light tight. The room I plan to keep it in stays 40%rh and 65-75F. I plan on exhausting it with a 4" duct booster fan (on a fan speed controller if necessary) and a homemade carbon filter, and putting a 30pt dehumidifier inside (to be used if necessary).

I'm trying to sort out the near future of my plants and I think wisdom dwells on these pages.

So if you have any thoughts on these matters let me know, the citrus girls appreciate it.
 

Brimi

Well-Known Member
Sorry to bump such an old thread, but I am on day 2 of week 8, and I want to try drowning. I have (3) 3x3 flood trays on the floor of my grow tent on 5" wood blocks, the drains are blocked off. The trays can be filled about 5"-6" high, which is significantly lower than the top of the rootpots my botanicare coco coir is in.

If I want to drown the 11, 13, and 15 plants in each of the 3 trays, can I just flood the trays, and constantly keep topping them up by top feeding the root pots? Or is coco too well aerated for so short a tray?

Also I have concerns from bekindbud's experiment/experience:








Does anyone who has drowned before (no ghosts please) know know why the bud lost density? Also could it have affected dry weight?

Any help or information would be greatly appreciated, I am in the process of aquiring a secret jardin dry tent to put the multi-level fabric growbox dry net I already have inside of.

I have zero space for curing or drying and this seems like the best plan for me, as it is collapsable and light tight. The room I plan to keep it in stays 40%rh and 65-75F. I plan on exhausting it with a 4" duct booster fan (on a fan speed controller if necessary) and a homemade carbon filter, and putting a 30pt dehumidifier inside (to be used if necessary).

I'm trying to sort out the near future of my plants and I think wisdom dwells on these pages.

So if you have any thoughts on these matters let me know, the citrus girls appreciate it.
I never saw any change in density of buds - really don't think 10 days of drowning can make the dense buds very loose. Anyways - i never experienced it. All i can say is that you need to completely keep air away from roots for 10 full days - after that the bud is smokable. No flushing or anything - just dry and smoke. (you will still gain a lot from a slow drying and cure)
 

endogarden

New Member
I never saw any change in density of buds - really don't think 10 days of drowning can make the dense buds very loose. Anyways - i never experienced it. All i can say is that you need to completely keep air away from roots for 10 full days - after that the bud is smokable. No flushing or anything - just dry and smoke. (you will still gain a lot from a slow drying and cure)
Thank you very much for the response. I suppose I will try drowning them as I described, filling the flood trays and just constantly topping them up every few hours or as often as I can.

Thanks as well for the reassurance, as I am a bit wary to test this on my whole crop, but I firmly believe it makes sense after thinking over the science for a few days.

I figure, even if it doesn't work for me (or I accidentally mess it up), I just chop em down as I would anyways, so no harm no foul, that's why I wanted to find out an experienced opinion on whether drowning might cause negative effects on the final product for some reason.
 

Halfwatt

Member
you need to do your research dew. cannibus starts to convert sugars into starches as soon as the roots stop getting oxygen. its a natural fermentation process.
 

endogarden

New Member
UPdate: I am on day 6 of drowning in 12/12, in Week 10 of flowering on a supposed 8-9 week strain (they didn't look finished until halfway through week 9, a few days ago, when the lower branches started getting too heavy to support their weight and are now facing the ground, though still connected and alive), and they show no signs of drooping, though they are drinking an inch or two of water out of the trays every day. I am not feeding them at all, just plain RO water in the trays, plus whatever ppm leached out of the coco, the water was around 500ppm when I checked it a few days ago, so they may be eating still. Some plants are turning purple from using all their leaves' nitrogen.

Maybe it is not working, but I'm holding out until day 10 to judge. Also, I plan on leaving them in the dark for 72 hours after then stop drinking, if they ever do. I think this will combine death techniques, drowning them to begin curing fermentation, and darkness, signaling death and extra tricome production. And if that doesn't work, at least they will have darkness to die in once they are droopy.

P.S. I'm kicking a cough and yellow green goo in nose sickness, before they are cut, dried, and cured....I want to enjoy this, not be sick.
 

Lat33n

Member
After the drowning, are you doing your trimming before or after the drying process. I've heard both sides , which do you guys prefer ?
 

endogarden

New Member
After the drowning, are you doing your trimming before or after the drying process. I've heard both sides , which do you guys prefer ?
I've done both, and let me tell you, I will never dry trim again. I know some people feel that the leaves protect the tricomes, but if you handle your drying plants properly it shouldn't matter. And if you are not careful when trimming dry, you will break off tons of tricomes as well. The plant is more forgivable and pliable when wet. I think it is so much easier to trim wet, it outweighs any potential benefits of trimming dry.

Also I think people cut off too much leave material, in order to try to "make it prettier" and also maybe make up for potential bad dry/cures, as the leaves will have more chlorophyll if they aren't properly processed. If they are properly processed, then those sugar leaves have a ton of tricomes on them, and won't taste bad. I clip whatever part of the sugar leaf that doesn't have concentrated tricomes coating it. I am not going to remove large masses of tricomes from my buds, I feel it's foolish. Even if you are making hash later, there will still be enough, unless that is a main focus for you, then I would remove all the tricome laden sugar leaves for extraction. I remember a thread on sativas which don't grow very thick buds, but their sugar leaves contain higher levels of THC than the bud even.

I am still on the fence whether or not I will use my Trimbox machine for all of the bud this time. I think I will do some test branches when the time comes and decide.

I'm going to repost my post on the Trimbox, since it was pretty much ignored when it was originally posted, and I feel it has good points for pondering/debate. I've left it unedited, though I have formed new opinions on the necessity of not removing sugar leaves, and I think the Trimbox leaves just about the right amount intact, while providing a good amount of hashy trim and amazing trimbox grill hash (scissor-less scissor hash).

Okay so, I have used the Trimpro Trimbox, which is the smallest $900 Trim Pro, it also comes with it's own table if you pay like $1400. I just clamp mine to a workbench, or attached it's brackets to something wooden you can screw into. Either way, it works rather well. It comes with a bag for collecting trimmed leaf parts, or you can install it in a rubbermaid or barrel top by cutting a hole and clamping it on, to accomplish the same thing.

In my opinion, the lack of trimming personally, or paying others to do it, makes any potential perceived loss in visual quality (from there being partial leaves left) completely worth it, 110%. Actually I find the leaves are easy to remove as the bud cures (see below *).

People say these machines in general damage the buds and don't trim well enough, I found this to be more true for small buds, not at all for large buds. The bud that was so popcorn it was goin in the trim anyways was the stuff the Trimbox had trouble with, because it's grille isn't designed for such small buds.

I found this to also be useful, as I would just wave the small buds across the trimbox and bam shaved stick to discard and all the popcorn instantly relocated to the trim pile. :lol: I will never trim again, unless I was specially commissioned to for artistic reasons or some other such ridiculous motivation.

The quality of the actual product remains the same, just when you look at it, you know it wasn't a contributor to carpal tunnel syndrome (owwwww my wrists and hands and back and neck and aaaaaahhhh), robbery (hiring seemingly trustable people), or wasted efficiency (trimming is a waste of human time). Those are the crimes of hand manicured bud. I can't imagine trimming ever again, it is so sticky and terrible and grueling, unless you have a very small amount to do.

I have never trimmed in a situation where there was less than 5lbs to process. If you deal with or have dealt with that or above, you know the utter discomfort of trimming.

So anyways, I highly endorse the Trimbox, I have never used another trimming machine, I'm sure there's some bad ones, and some good ones, but I'd say this one is a good one, I will take pictures after I use it again so you all can see for yourselves whether or not you think it is acceptable for you. It has transitioned from 'acceptable' to 'necessary' for me, it is amazing.

I have found that when you use it, you really don't need to do anything, other than first remove only the huge fan leaves, and remove the "crows feet" afterwards.

*I find that the remaining leaf matter that is not removed, when the bud is placed in turkey bags, will naturally break off and find it's way to the bottom of the turkey bag over the course of a week or 2 as it cures. Every once in a while I move the bud from it's turkey bag to a new one, and remove the leaves at the bottom of the bag, and re-weigh the "de-leafed" bud, and label the new bag.

Also the "Trim Pro hash" you get instead of scissor hash, is fucking amazing. You just scrape a huge ball of it off at once when the metal grill grating gets too sticky to be efficient.

Oh yes, I almost forgot, one of the sweetest advantages is ~TIME~! I can trim 5 lbs comfortably(!) in 2-4 days with 1 or 2 people. That is fuckin nuts to me. And don't start about how fast so-and-so or you or your friend or me can trim, it isn't about that it's about damage to hands, backs, necks, eyes (hmm...the more I think about it, it's almost as bad as using the computer, heh), etc.

So I feel if the industry/community as a whole would embrace mechanical trimming with the knowledge that that a visual of bud that has not been OCD trimmed to the point of practically having no leaves or stems on it at all, is not a benefit, it is an indulgent unnecessary visual style.

You guys still like pussy that has different shapes and lengths of pubes above it right? As long as it isn't an extreme amount, or detracts from the enjoyable visual, it's all wonderful. It's the same thing.


The leaves around bud are usually crystally anyways, so it actually is adding value, seein how bud is carrying the trichomes, and bud is what is valuable, more trichomes, more value.

So yes my cropx rox a Trimbox. And maybe yours should too.​
 

kolz2788

Well-Known Member
UPdate: I am on day 6 of drowning in 12/12, in Week 10 of flowering on a supposed 8-9 week strain (they didn't look finished until halfway through week 9, a few days ago, when the lower branches started getting too heavy to support their weight and are now facing the ground, though still connected and alive), and they show no signs of drooping, though they are drinking an inch or two of water out of the trays every day. I am not feeding them at all, just plain RO water in the trays, plus whatever ppm leached out of the coco, the water was around 500ppm when I checked it a few days ago, so they may be eating still. Some plants are turning purple from using all their leaves' nitrogen.

Maybe it is not working, but I'm holding out until day 10 to judge. Also, I plan on leaving them in the dark for 72 hours after then stop drinking, if they ever do. I think this will combine death techniques, drowning them to begin curing fermentation, and darkness, signaling death and extra tricome production. And if that doesn't work, at least they will have darkness to die in once they are droopy.

P.S. I'm kicking a cough and yellow green goo in nose sickness, before they are cut, dried, and cured....I want to enjoy this, not be sick.

I feel ya on being sick man, I got some bronchitis right now or some shit, just some minor chest congestion...

I hope your final stages turn out well
 
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