Harvested 105g of the top buds from the Double Grape last night. I’m hanging it in my garage sale wine fridge, which I disinfected last weekend. There’s no significant air exchange in that thing, but it is holding at 55F and ~60% humidity, with the ghetto help of a few generic unscented DampRids and a couple of empty egg cartons/brown bags to help soak up moisture.
I wet trimmed the bulky stuff off and weighed each piece. 28, 15, 35, 27.
Weight is objectively how I’m learning about the subjective art of learning by feel. As long as it all proceeds ok, they will be weighed daily until they are about 40 - 45% of their original weight. I figured that will get me close to the curing jars.
Right now, I’m just being a vigiliant as poss re mold and mildew. I worry about the “no fresh air” bit most of all.
If I need to bail on this method, I am considering as back-up options an ambient air dry at night, wrapping in individual bags, etc. I’m intent of doing a better, slower dry and cure this time.
Hubbabubbasmelloscope, also indoors, is probably a week or so away, I think.
In about 2-3 weeks, the monster Double Grape that I planted directly into a 7 gallon pot and stuck outside in May. Right now, she smells like ass and gets rolled into the garage on her driveway dolly every night. She gets her last PK blast this weekend, and then goes on a pure water diet til the end.
Starting now: back to photoperiods, with two Laughing Buddha and two Amnesia Lemon hatching, which will run til Christmas. I hope to work in the 23 week Jamaican Lambsbread from @Upstate, too.
wow… that photo you have labeled ODC - that plant had some FAT friggin’ colas dude. nice work!
that one came out beautiful. (you’re clearly doing something right, so don’t doubt your skills. keep tweaking and refining so the next crop is better than the last)
was that plant outside the whole time? did you have problems with insects? (i KNOW i would here)
That’s Tilraster and yeah, man, that’s this girl. She was a runt seedling and I thought she was gonna die in the tent, so I tossed her outside. It was a windy and cool spring and she refused to flower on time – she kept vegging until just after July 4.
It’s 42 inches by 37 inches, with a perfect structure. I’ve de-leafed very little, mostly tucked. And yes – rain, wind, she was outside for everything except one big downpour about 10 days ago. My goal was to let her go as au naturel as possible. I want to try some sun-grown weed.
I’m terrible at estimating this stuff, but she might be 400 - 500g wet. Won’t know til Aug. 25 or 26. I’m hoping she takes on some of the purple that her sister got.
i ran into that problem with 2 different autos so far. they were auto seeds, but performed like photoperiods. one was a purple kush auto and the other was a gdp x gumberry auto. both outgrew their grow spaces and never flowered, so i tossed those outside to finish up like photoperiods.
all part of the genetic crapshoot with seed. what portions/percentages of parental genetics are passed on? clearly, some photoperiod traits still make their way through.
i think the plants grow up tougher when they are outside, and in some cases produce better / stronger / tastier end product… though suffers a bit in the “looks” department.
some cultivars require lower evening temps to trigger color changes. i RARELY get temps here low enough to do that. not sure what it’s like in your AO. but if the others from the pack showed some purple, good chance that one will also.
To add an option to drying your flower I will mention how I do it. I am looking for the longest flowering period I can get as it allows more of the chlorophyll to go bye bye making for a smoother smoking experience. I spend a good bit of time pulling off as close to all the fan leaves as I can, cut down the plant and hang it in a dark closet with a small muffin fan moving the air. A small plant takes a week to dry, a large plant 10-14 days sometimes a little longer. Darkness when drying is important as it airflow and the proper humidity level. My goal is 60% humidity when dry.
i’m guessing you meant “longest drying period”? I am totally with you. I’ve been studying the rate at which water should leave weed. . . though I can’t find anyone else who tracks their drying progress by bud weight. Idk it makes sense to me. If this took me 10 days, I’d be happy. I’ve mostly dried stuff too quickly. Let’s see if I can fix that this time.
Your tips are good ones! Like you, I left the buds on the stems deliberately, but I chopped off most of the fan leaves – especially anything that looked “bunched up.” I’ll be aimed for VERY close to a “snap” of the stem – but not quite. Then, I’ll jar. I’ve got a little USB fan in that wine fridge. It’s underneath the egg carton.
Interesting. I’m still also thinking about your “til tap root hits bottom” idea. This went directly into a 7 gallon. I wonder if that had anything to do with the delay?
I have tent in my garage, so it’s somewhat buffered. During the day, the tent was in the mid 80s almost the whole time. It would drop into the 70s and 60s at night, but I help that with some AC, too. I was trying to create a 20 - 25 degree difference, just for fun. I didn’t even SEE the purple until yesterday. lol
I suspect this outside plant will develop the same hues.
Overall, I’m succeeding at dialing in all the basics, I think. Who knew that pHing my water and feeding more naturally and on-time would help so much? lol This is the best I’ve done so far. Now, I need to work on the yield size, for sure. If I were a farmer, I’d be growing beautiful boutique weed, very unprofitably. But getting here was the first step. I’m satisfied.
I’m finishing up a bunch of dispo Pineapple Express which is pretty damn good actually. Even found two bag seeds. So, I think I’ll be able to let this DG cure for a bit without tapping into my new stash too early.
Indoor Double Grape Auto yielded 163g wet. Trimmed of all major fan leaves and sugar leaves and anything that looked wet or grey/brownish and scuzzy. About 1 to 1.5 inches of stem on each
Drying adventures are over here. Thank you, @LoveDaAutos for your drying tips – they are absolutely helping me.
Rootball dissections/learnings start later today.
Indoor Hubbabubbasmelloscope is taking a little longer. I have plans to help finish it. . .more on that later.
Outdoor Double Grape monster is still on track for about August 25/26. Sister went about 57 days since first flower, planning on the monster taking about the same.
Rootball from my 3 gallon Double Grape. Surprised to feel like the top inch or so was more crusty/impermeable than the rest. Not sure if that was diatom earth watered in, or what. . .
Halfway through grow I had a branch break. I taped it together and I thought it had healed. It never healed. Somehow a 27 gram bud got fed/watered through the tiny little connection on the right side.
that right there is the lesson. these plants are tough as f^ck and can withstand a lot of abuse. never be afraid to train them. they can come back from way worse as you have now seen.
have you started an organic compost pile? those roots will break down nice and become good feed for the next round.
Thank you, for the nice words – and the beans. This one is too good to risk on my new wine fridge thing, so I’m using the grow tent this time. I think I can nail the slow dry in there.
We always have two compost piles going, just 5-foot-diameter chicken wire rounds. . .one pile is either finished or close to it, and the other is the one we’re actively working. I love it!
Let’s see if I can fix that this time.
This is the best I’ve done so far. Now, I need to work on the yield size, for sure. If I were a farmer, I’d be growing beautiful boutique weed, very unprofitably. 
But getting here was the first step. I’m satisfied.
