Thanks for the response guys. And yes, I thought it was a cute plant too.
The main lessons I learned are
1. fill your fucking bucket up all of the way to the top. the dirt compresses when watered. logic much?
2. 90 is too hot for a seedling. I had heat issues back in september and I think it had a lot to do with the growth stunt.
3. ph is pretty detrimental. It really does lock shit out if not within the window. It stayed at 8 until I got some aluminum sulphate.
4. supercropping is awesome but do it earlier than later.
5. Same thing with cutting off bottom nugs.
6. Same thing with topping.- topped twice at week 3-4ish of flowering and it slowed growth a lot.
7. People suck. keep your shit locked up tighter than you ever would think you need to. Be paranoid as fuck and you should be fine.
8. gnats suck. They're more intrusive than people. However a pest strip and a plug in and the gnat problem is solved. If only the people problem was as easy.
9. Move at the pace of a plant. Don't be overly ambitious and fuck with it too much. It hates it.
that's all the wisdom this newb can impart for now.
I am curing them in a cardboard box with a screen to rest on currently and in about 3-4 days I will start the process of burping. I've read that burping should consist of putting the weed in jars about half way up the jar and letting it "burp" for about an hour a day. Continue this process for close to two weeks and the bud should just keep, theoretically. I'll probably do this for at least a week before I start to try them. I have bud so don't feel as though it's my only option right now.
I've read countless threads on curing and stuff but I was wondering if any of the old guys had anything that they do special that seems to work for them? I also know that there are a million ways to do this and just plain experimenting is the only real way to learn anything well.