From Seed to Smoke - Harvest Eagle's Journal vol. 1

[HarvestEagle]

Day 137

So I keep lying to myself about the micronutrients - gave them some two feedings ago. Otherwise feeding unchanged.

Also, I have a cheap microscope thing coming soon! Can’t wait to peep those trichomes! There’s so many it’s exciting!

The ladies are beginning to really show their personalities! Still putting on weight too!

Skunk XL is kind of a mess overall - long branches getting heavy and such. But seems healthy and looking very pretty!

OG Kush still smells outstanding! Also some impressive trichomes.

White Widow is also doing great. Smells similar to the above but sweeter according to my wife!

Shogun is looking large and in charge!

And Amnesia Haze is looking wonderful too! Her main cola’s pistils are still pretty white but looking nice on the more mature looking branches. Honestly, the main cola don’t look bad either.

Slowly picking away at my shopping list. I think I should have things as I need them for harvest and the next generation. Thinking of what to pop next is almost as exciting as the current growth! Almost.

[FUKAZ28]

@HarvestEagle
Those are some beautiful buds.

[HarvestEagle]

Thank you! If they smoke anything like they look I’ll be in business!

Day 138

I received my microscope! It’s a pain to use because somewhere between me and the fan we’re unsteady.

Actually kind of freaked myself out because I looked at sugar leaves on Shogun and saw substantial amber. Then I read and realized I needed to be looking at the buds.

Skunk XL

OG Kush

White Widow

Shogun

Amnesia Haze

More weeks means more weight so I have no complaints!

[HarvestEagle]

Day 151

Fed as usual. Thinking it’ll be time to flush soon. Will probably only flush for 1 week since the soil is kind of inert so still biding my time.

They’ve been yellowing and killing leaves as expected for late flower. I adjusted the pH slightly up and back down to make sure there was no lockout just in case.

I removed many dead leaves today and retrained a couple cola’s.

Skunk XL

OG Kush

White Widow

Shogun

Amnesia Haze

[HarvestEagle]

Day 159

Feeding has continued as usual. I got a new PH meter though! One suggested by an esteemed member of our very forum! I do need to get a storage solution for it still but I’m very happy with it thus far! Seems to hold calibration, easy to use and the carrying case makes me feel professional.

Anyway, I have been using a different PH down so I was happy to check. I wasn’t far off but now I can rest assured we’re dialed in with PH.

The ladies are doing good. Eating off leaves and foxtailing a bit but still growing. I still see a good amount of clear trichomes.

They also sprouted a new round of stigmas. My research indicates this is the equivalent of not wanting to die a virgin. A good sign that they’re inching toward the finish line. As they probably should be…

It’s been 10.5 weeks since I flipped them so if we’re counting from first flowers I’d reckon that’s about 2 weeks in. So we’d be at 8.5 or so depending on how one counts.

It’s tempting to cut an hour of light to move them along but I’ll remain patient for now. If that’s how RQS counts then I’m still 1-3 weeks short of estimated times.

Skunk XL is the only one that didn’t sprout an impressive new hairstyle.

OG Kush is looking thicc.

White Widow is doing the best at NOT eating her leaves.

Shogun got a stake added because I caught her getting her lean on. That’s why she’s been lassoed.

Amnesia Haze also got her lean on - she’s a relative of Shogun so I’m guessing a family gathering gone well?

I’ve got a drying tiered hanging thing to dry the smaller stuff so just waiting on these ladies to ripen up!

Next seeds procured as well! Along with some other supplies of course. I’ve also been looking into all kinds of crap I can add to their nutrient regimes!

Seaweed/kelp, molasses, silica, amino acids - I should probably do one thing at a time to see how they act but I get excited so I’m probably not doing that.

[HarvestEagle]

Day 174

At 9.5 weeks and going strong! Debating on robbing them of another hour of light starting this weekend to encourage them along that home stretch.

Skunk XL

OG Kush

White Widow, foxtailing hard

Shogun

Amnesia Haze, also foxtailing pretty good.

o

They’re all getting deliciously close but still don’t seem yet. Watching carefully with bated breath!

[patrick1960]

They are looking awesome. Nice grow👍. Some of those are fox tailing as you said, the throwing of new white pistils, no harm there. I had that last grow and have read some start dropping lights a bit each week near the end to help stop that. They still smoke the same. So close now.

[HarvestEagle]

Day 182

I’ve been cutting the lights an hour early to give 13 hours of dark a night. I think it’s helping them along. I’m hoping these ladies will be ready for harvest next weekend!

Skunk XL has the smallest buds but they’re lovely dressed in purple. There’s still some clear but seeing an uptick in milky trichomes.

OG Kush, still an outstanding specimen. A bit more milky than Skunk XL but still a few clear in places as well.

White Widow is rocking some newer white hairs and the trichomes on the foxtails seem a bit less mature but overall she’s coming along quick.

Shogun is still gorgeous. Also likely to be my biggest producer. She’s looking very nearly done to me.

Amnesia Haze also had some foxtails and thus younger growth. I don’t have a good picture of her trichomes at present - apparently I was struggling when I took the pics. I can probably assume she’s slightly behind Shogun though as they’re related.

I think we’ve hit 11 or so weeks so should be golden by next weekend. I’ll probably also harvest the following weekend as I know there was some shaded growth that warrants a progressive harvest. I’ll probably pop the next round right before then so we can roll right on along!

Next time I’ll know to drop the light some when I notice the foxtails to see if I can stop it. My guess is they ‘realize’ they have more time, maybe because of temperature, and proceed to grow more but differently as it’s piling on preexisting buds. Could be off base but makes sense to me.

Though I do care some about bag appeal my main concern is quality so it’s no biggie.

[HarvestEagle]

Day 192

Alrighty, harvesting round 1 completed. Shogun and Amnesia Haze are done, Skunk XL only has 2 little buds maturing. OG Kush and White Widow have a fair few still going though. I’ll drop pics this week probably.

Now the sadness, I did discover mold inside of Shogun and Amnesia Haze’s main cola’s and a little on Skunk where a nug had fallen into and rested on the wall.

All infected material was cut away and disposed of with relatively little salvaged. Washed a few nugs but probably 4 or 5 ozs (if it was dried) claimed by what I’m fairly certain was early stage bud rot.

Looked like webs inside kinda with one little patch on the outside of Shogun looking dried out.(Choked of chlorophyll)

I spot checked some nugs with my microscope, especially bigger ones and ones from those plants and couldn’t see the spores or strands I saw on the infected buds. (Wiped microscope thoroughly with alcohol to remove any errant evil)

Now running a dehumidifier to keep humidity in 40s and have a pretty large fan blowing into the mesh like drying thing I have. Even though I didn’t see any mold I’m still opting to err on the side of caution and dry kinda fast.

In other news JFC people understate how much of a pain in the butt trimming is. Like 2 afternoons and evenings just constantly trimming and I was going quick and dirty early on.

Need to figure out a more comfortable set up for future trimming because my back was not a fan. Probably 80%+ done with wet trimming. Still dry trimming in my future because of the ‘fast and dirty’ ones.

At least as a result I’ve got a bunch of trim for tinctures and/or edibles. Also filled 2 of those silicone dab containers with scissor/glove hash. Probably 2-4 grams if I were to guess.

Tried some of that and it was about as good as rosin! The reward for all the trimming I guess.

I’ll probably hold off on popping next seeds until harvesting is complete so I can wipe down the tent really well. So maybe next weekend.

All in all, the ruined material is a bummer but if I can dry the rest without anything else cropping up we’ll still have a pretty respectable harvest. Lesson learned about no side touching and the fragility of those monster cola’s.

[HarvestEagle]

Update, I’ve been examining every day and found a couple more with very very small amounts of mold. Like, I had to use microscope to verify small. I’m honestly not how I even saw it on a couple. Credit goes to my flashlight. Was actually hard to differentiate crystals from growths in some cases.

Anyway, pieces I found were removed - even a couple that I wasn’t sure about as a precaution against further contamination. Checked today and found none so hoping and praying we’re clean going forward.

Have a very busy 24 hours ahead of me but after that I plan on scanning them with my microscope and depositing them in curing bags.

After that I’ll keep checking on them ofc. Also harvest some of what’s left. Skunk ain’t doing well so she’s getting cut either way. The other two I’m on the fence about giving another week or not. We’ll see how things look and feel tomorrow.

Also have a couple more fans coming as an addition to help ward off these evils in the future. Apparently 3 wasn’t adequate against that Md humidity.

Can’t wait to cut, clean and pop the next ladies but all things in their proper time.

[HarvestEagle]

Day 200

Everything is curing in Grove bags with a hygrometer. Didn’t love micro scanning but I think I eliminated any suspects - allowing them to cure separately. Will check thoroughly before any kind of use.

Harvested Skunk, her last couple buds are drying.

Decided to give OG Kush and White Widow that extra week as quite a few still seemed premature. I gave one feeding to see them through since the soil doesn’t retain a lot and will continue with plain water until the weekend.

This weekend I’ll harvest, trim and clean everything so that I can begin germinating the next round!

OG Kush is finally getting some color

White Widow as well, in some places more than others.

Might also make some butter or tinctures. I’ve got trim to spare after all. I’ll check but hoping since the trim wasn’t retaining a lot of moisture to begin with there will be no unwelcome guests.

[patrick1960]

Congrats on that grow👍

[HarvestEagle]

Thanks!

Almost forgot, dry weight going into cure bags was 551g or just short of 1 1/4 pounds. Still some to cut and dry but off to a great start!

Even with losing the main cola Shogun still weighed in the most with 133g. OG Kush may make up the difference with second round of harvest. We’ll have to wait and see.

[HarvestEagle]

Yesterday I emptied drying racks into jars and completed harvesting and trimming with some help from my lovely wife.

The last of it is drying with no signs of spoilage thus far! White Widow had some immature seeds which is curious because I only ever noticed female calyxes. Something happened there though. Too late to worry about that now.

Also cleaned tent and fans. Installed new fans that clip onto uprights in tent and prepared soil mixes.

X4 5 gallon fabric pots. 70% ocean forest, 10% perlite, 10% peat moss, 5% happy frog, mixed, then last 5% happy frog on top as a thin buffer for seedlings. V’d out the center for little solo like cups. Filled the cups with straight happy frog to start in.

3 bags

1 bag

1 bag

1 bag

Still have 2 bags perlite and a bag of peat moss my wife might steal and 2 bags of ocean forest (1 big, 1 small like above) she may steal as well. Want to top pots off with more ocean forest once they’re decently big. Extra nutrition and fill in anything watering might settle.

Before last layer happy frog

Final product

This also means it’s the holy day!!!

I’ve started 4 cultivars today!

We’re running all RQS again. They price so well for a couple of this, a couple of that. Particularly on sale.

We’re popping Mother Gorilla, Royal Gorilla, Fruit Spirit and Cookies Gelato!

Cookies Gelato is from last round that didn’t make it so it’s not in the picture. I store seeds in an envelope in a catalogue book and I forgot to take a pic of it’s envelope for this.

I took a half paper towel, split it 4 ways, folded each in half, wet it with filtered water, squeezed excess water out, placed seed in middle, folded, fit into paint cups, capped them and all in the tent under starter tray from last time to guarantee darkness. Here’s a quick photo blast of all that.

And now we play the waiting game.

[patrick1960]

Nice harvest that will keep you in smoke for a while. Good luck on this next grow.

[HarvestEagle]

Thank you! Thanks for coming on the journey with me!

Certainly enough to enjoy and experiment with making bubble hash, rosin, maybe some dry sift. I like being able to dabble in this and that on a whim.

Plus I love those extracts and the cerebral nature of the effects. Nothing wrong with some couchlock to unwind and go to sleep but that’s only once or twice a day. I like doing stuff buzzes. Makes things like cleaning more fun.

Hoping for descent results with the trim. Just waiting on bubble bags to see what washes up. Have three full shopping bags with leaves and a few immature buds going in the freezer right now in preparation.

[patrick1960]

I make edibles also and after 4 pm or so do a nice dose and smoke a bit through the night. I do a half dropper of tincture just before bed, I sleep thru the night. I do grain alcohol extracts QWET method. I either reduce to wax to make butter or reduce til about 20 percent alcohol left ( tincture).

[HarvestEagle]

I was thinking about whipping up some butter to make cookies or something. I’m on a diet though so can’t eat like that often. It’s definitely nice for a long, sustained effect when there’s time for it. Very therapeutic.

Was also thinking about a tincture but I’m not sure if I’d use it. In theory I could use it like an edible or sublingually I guess. Do tinctures behave like edibles or do they have a different feel to them?

[patrick1960]

Same feeling. It is grain alcohol so it burns a bit. I drop some in oj or something like that. Good for travel in a little brown tincture bottle.

[HarvestEagle]

Sounds like it could be worth trying. I saw a guide that said it was good to extract with everclear so no doubt there’ll be a burn. I’ll have to give it a try!

All four seeds opened! Cookies Gelato less than the others but a start’s a start!

Cookies Gelato

Royal Gorilla

Mother Gorilla

Fruit Spirit

All four have been sown into their starter cups. Watered a bit over them and misted the top layer of soil. Also misted a second cup for each to place over as a humidity dome.

Hopefully we’ll be fully dry and ready to cure by the weekend so I can turn off the dehumidifier. Then I can be ready to boost the RH some in the tent when the domes become impractical.

Lights roughly 18" away at 30% output starting at furthest and lowest recommended by the manufacturer for seedlings. Will let them grow to the closest recommendation (12") and inch the power up to 50% by the time they’re ready for transplant.

I’m looking forward to trying the training to come! I want to try mainlining and scrog this go 'round. Maybe super cropping too if I’m feeling frisky.

Easier access to water and should have great airflow with the two new fans on uprights blowing across the canopy, 1 in the top corner blowing down and two on the floor blowing up. Won’t overwhelm them at first but it’s a part of my mold prevention measures for when they flower.