I harvested my two White Widow Autos and my two Sour Diesel Autos about a week ago(seeds from ilgm). Grown in FFOF, Bergman Nutes, 3x3tent, 4gallon pots with holes drilled all over for aeration, vivo vs2000 light, 18hoursOn/6hoursOff throughout.
I put my two WWs in jars to cure yesterday and need to do the same with my SD plants as soon as I have a chance…
I’m perplexed by some differences(or lack ther of) between the two plants…
WW without LST-
She started flowering before the other and was seemingly much further down the line of growth/flowering when I harvested her compared to the other. She was also seemed to have struggled with some nute/ph issues which I never quite sorted out. Canoeing of the leaves, and very dry/brittle by the end of the grow. Her buds snapped off very easily when I moved her to jars. After 8 days of drying total harvest weighed out to be just over 92g(should I expect much more fluctuation from this weight?). Her buds are much more dense. She filled 4 quart sized mason jars(only filling 50-75% of each jar)
WW with LST-
After 8 days of drying total harvest weighed out to be just over 98g. Her buds are not dense at all in comparison, and very few would snap off. I generally needed scissors to cut many buds off. She filled 6 quart sized mason jars(again only filled each 50-75%)
My attempt at LST didn’t yield much more, but beyond that I’m wondering why the non-LST seems to have developed better/more sense buds. Especially since that plant seemed to have more issues than the other. My only hypothesis is that it spend more time flowering since it got off to an early start compared to the others, and that leads me to believe that maybe I should have waited for the others to flower another week or two.
I know that’s a lot there 
but any thoughts are appreciated!
3 Likes
When it comes to autoflowers you are at the mercy of the individual genetics of each plant. Its going to flower and produce on its pre-programmed timeline. All you can do it give it the best stress free environment to grow and take what it gives. I personally abandoned autos after about a year and a half and am completely surprised at how much easier and better producing photoperiod plants are. The idea that autos are easier is not true. The only perk is you dont have to worry about lighting. So in areas of the house where it would be difficult to provide 12 hours of darkness autos will be a good choice. My tent is in an interior room and with the room lights out and the tent lights out it has never been a problem. Its not as difficult as some make it seem.
3 Likes
Congrats on a harvest! I hope they bring you smiles and forgetfulness.
Did one get closer to the light, from being different height or shape? Sorry I forget and I seen your grow before, I think…
1 Like
If one started flowering a week or 2 before another but both was harvested at the same time, then you have your answer my friend.
If the one that flowered first was harvested at the perfect time, that would mean the other was harvested a week or 2 early potentially…
1 Like
I can’t figure for the life of me why its suggested that autos are better for beginners.
Because the internet is full of forums them clearly show, they are not very user friendly and thus are not better for beginners 
4 Likes
I did my best to keep the canopy as even as I could, but with two plants being LST’ed and two plants being grown naturally there was some variance. Overall various buds from each of the plants were at different distances from my light, but there definitely wasn’t any one plant that was closer as a whole than the others.
1 Like
Yeah that’s kind of what my thought was as well. Next go round I might wait until the plants look like the one with the denser buds looked before I harvest. Although my understanding is that the type of high I prefer will generally come from a slightly earlier harvest(sided from the strain itself of course), since I tend to like a more energetic sativa-like high.
1 Like
Is it normal for my weed not to really smell like weed?? Once I cut the plants to dry the beautiful aroma disappeared as the chlorophyll took over(from what I understand). Now that I’m curing my SD does smell a little like weed but not strong at all, and my WW smells more like hay or veryyyyy slightly like the musty smell that was in the mason jars before I put weed in them. I did sit the jars out for a while beforehand which seemed to eliminate most of the musty smell they came with. Should my buds be smelling like string bud yet? Only a few days into curing here
1 Like
Not sure about each strain if they differ. My second last harvest went from fruit to jet fuel within hours. Then changed more slowly as it dried and cured.
1 Like
From my experience smell and taste tends to drop some at first and then sort of comes back after about 2 weeks into cureing.
It took me 3-4 grows before I figured out that I was drying mine to much and ruining the “terps” (aka smell and taste).
I bag mine up in grove bags sooner then i had been and it seems to help alot with smell, taste, and being more sticky…
Oh and my temperatures when drying was to high before. Now i never let temperature get over 70°f when drying, i like to keep temperatures around 65° and this i believe helpede alot…
1 Like
Thanks for the insight. I do wonder if my plants dried a bit too fast. The temperature was low while drying, 60-65 degrees on average. The humidity was generally 45-55 but it did dip a bit lower a few times and was possibly closer to 45rh sooner than it should have been while drying. Only one plants branches and buds snapped off with ease(this is also the plant that seemingly has the best/most dense buds, and the one that started flowering 1-2 weeks sooner than the rest). All my others just seemed as if the exterior may have dried too fast as(based on feel). Hopefully that beautiful smell they had while growing comes back within a couple weeks. Either way. It looks like I may have yielded about 14oz from these four plants which I’m happy about!(assuming my sour diesel plants have roughly the same weight/yield as the Whit Widow plants that I already weighed after drying/before curing)
1 Like
I always predict it by days it takes me. When my weed’s nearly dry in less than a week things arent going good. Dried in more than a week theyll probably taste pretty good
1 Like
Do you have any specific method of assessing if they are dry enough to begin curing?
Just by the feel of the buds?
Snapping of branches?
@Jaysittinback
1 Like
Bending and trying to pull bud off branch. Almost snaps off but doesnt. Outside layer feels dry but squeezing it feels like it’s soft inside
1 Like
A moisture meter I will own one day. I shy away from instruments and devices but to harvest nice buds then upset by drying and curing… tragedy lol
1 Like
Haha I get it. This being my first grow I’ve generally wanted to keep it simple, yet I have already found myself getting more instruments than I imagined I would.
Just weighed out the rest
SD without LST yielded 101.48g
SD with LST yielded 87.74g
WW without LST yielded 92.03g
WW with LST yielded 98.42g
Overall I’m pumped to be sitting on about 13.5oz after my first grow. It seems clear my attempt at yielding more with LST failed which I’m fine with. I also wonder if I pruned too many leaves over the final 4 weeks or so before harvest. My thought was that decreasing the foliage to allow more light to the buds would have been a good thing, but maybe not? I would generally just go and pluck a handful at a time on a fairly regular basis, but slowly over time in an attempt to lessen the stress in the plant
2 Likes
My method is thin branches snap, thick branch/stalks will bend and not snap. Tiny little buds aka larf atached with tiny little stims may snap off but bigger soild buds will string off the stem and not snap off clean. Any really big thick buds/colas here and there may even still be slightly flexible and not break at all if bent…
When i first started i would have thought it was way to wet to start cureing. I really do have way better results starting my cure way sooner then “the internet made it seem to me”.
It could just have been my understanding of everything i read and heard, but reality wasn’t nothing like what i had pictured from lots of information read and watched…
Trial and error ultimately wins out in this area i believe…
Could not hurt maybe to start the cure at different stages and see if any difference, and from that point on, go with what worked best 
1 Like
So i do alot of LST to and i tend to leave leafs atached and i tuck and stuff them anywhere i van get them to let light pass through right. And then at some point 2-3 times threw out the grow when it starts get to many to stuff and tuck, I’ll pluck the shit out of them and and just tuck any new stuff for a few weeks to give them recovery time…
Micromanageing is something we all do at first but can hurt us in the end.
Ive found if i don’t pluck, top or cut anything for the first month after germination or the first 2-3 weeks of flower (they streach doing the first of flower and grow taller quickly and should get no stress at all or it can greatly hurt yeild) but my LST tends to work out great.
1 Like
I got ya! Thanks. Yeah I’d read a good bit of conflicting information online(which is typically the case lol). It’s still early, but thus far I’m thinking that I may have harvested a tiny bit too soon, and probably dried a little too fast and possibly too long. Probably going to use that same strategy you just laid out the next time 
1 Like
