In Search Of....Tutankhamun!

[SilentHippie]

Egyptian Adventure Day 112:

Good morning adventurers and welcome to the Valley of the Kings. It has been a perilous journey but I believe we’ve made it! Harvest is near!

A quick rundown of the past weeks events:
I was on week 6 of the 8 week flowering schedule (General Hydroponics) and noticed new pistil production was nearly stopped and the trichomes were at various stages of cloudy on all three plants. The ladies are finishing fast and I decided to start flushing. I stopped feeding after week 6, watered with ph’d water on Friday, flushed Monday with FloraKleen. That brings us to today.

Ank (Tut) is the most mature with mostly amber trichomes on her tallest colas and the lower buds are about 20% amber. She’s ready now but will have to wait until Saturday or Sunday.

Aurora (Northern Lights) will go next. She’s a little behind but has almost totally cloudy trichomes and showing more and more amber every day. She’ll come down Sunday or Monday.

Nef (Tut) will finish last. She’ll be down Monday or Tuesday. Her trichs are 50-60% cloudy with a little amber mixed in.

All of the girls have nice frost and are super dense. Early samples are out of this world! The high from the Tuts is real heady and lasts for hours. The NL buds aren’t potent enough to really knock me out yet but I do notice I’m sleeping better. The potency is definitely increasing and, once cured properly, should be some of the best weed I’ve ever smoked.

My finishing strategy is this:

The soil is still really wet this morning from the flush but I think tomorrow I will flush again with plain water to try and get any residuals out. My theory is the FloraKleen that was left in the soil from the flush has a few days to break up anything that was left. PPMs were in the 860s towards the end of the flush.

I also plan on splitting the stem on Ank so I can harvest on Saturday.
Friday, stem split on Aurora, harvest Sunday.
Saturday, stem split on Nef, harvest Monday.

When it comes to the stem split, I saw one of you guys @M4ur @dbrn32 @bob31 @Countryboyjvd1971 just drill a couple holes in the stem. Am I right to assume this has the same effect as actually shimming the stalk?

Well folks, that’s the latest update on our search for the mighty Tutankhamun. The treasure is in sight! As always, thanks for your help and support. Thank you for reading and happy growing!

[GreenThunder]

@SilentHippie

drill a couple holes in the stem. Am I right to assume this has the same effect as actually shimming the stalk?

This was suggested to me when I posted that my stem was too thick for me to be comfortable trying my first split. I don’t remember who suggested it (remembering requires writing it down) and I haven’t yet tried it, nor have I split a stem, but it seems it would have the same effect.

[dbrn32]

Plants look great, nice job! Didn’t expect that from a buckeye fan lmao!

I’m not a stem splitter, but I’m sure the others will be happy to help. I’m pretty sure they’re just putting two wire ties one above and the other below, and pushing sharp knife through. Then using something like a popsicle stick to push the knife out, and leaving the stick in place.

Wait for someone to verify that though.

[Covertgrower]

@SilentHippie I haven’t split any stems either. But @dbrn32 is correct in the procedure with a knife and popsicle sticks.

[SilentHippie]

One last look at the jungle. We’ll be harvesting this weekend.

[SilentHippie]

A little bud porn

[WillyJ]

Outstanding!

[Covertgrower]

Absolutely beautiful, I can see why you’re going to be harvesting. @SilentHippie

[dbrn32]

Very nice! It’s been a fun ride, can’t wait to see those weights! Congrats!

[SilentHippie]

Thanks to all. I can’t say it enough. Before I started this hobby, I’d never seen a growing marijuana plant let alone expected these results. You folks here at ILGM deserve all the credit. These buds are for you! If our paths ever cross, there’s samples for all!

[Covertgrower]

@SilentHippie thanks, I was right where you are just a few months ago. Thanks for sharing the growing process with us! It’s been great, and I look forward to your new grow already!

[SilentHippie]

@Covertgrower
Thanks for the kind words. I’m planning the next grow already although I may wait a few months. I’m going to have plenty of bud to last me a bit. My next grow will be a KIND soil grow and already have the soil ordered. Probably going with Super Silver Haze and Purple Haze for the next one.

[dbrn32]

You know I went and looked at the kind soil after someone here was struggling with it a bit. It sounds like a great method, I’m just not as sold that you can run a longer veg time on it like they say.

The one thing I took away from looking, is that it’s an entirely different method than most here are experienced with. So if you go that route, most of us will be of little assistance. Not that we wouldn’t try to help, but the first thing you’re going to be asked is why you’re not watering to runoff. So just keep that in mind.

[SilentHippie]

It does seem too easy to be true but I’m planing on 2 plants, 2 different strains to see how it does. I plan on following their instructions to the letter and seeing if it really is as easy as they claim. I’ll make sure to keep a grow journal so everyone can see the results.

[SmoknGranny]

Please tag me in when you do

[dbrn32]

Sounds good, tag me in too

[Covertgrower]

I’m in @SilentHippie

[Viktor7]

Raise LED lights. Canopy penetration is NOT a problem however because these lights throw awesome hues the plant is more susceptible to ultraviolet burn. I made the same mistake by placing powerful LEDS too close. The plants won’t wither but will rapidly gain white specs (burns) they result in various places on plants. First thing to notice is new growth tips will stay faint yellow color on fan leaves once opened.

[SilentHippie]

Nile River Expedition - Final Entry

Good morning Adventurers! Today is the day we’ve been waiting on. I harvested all three girls over the New Years weekend and the treasure is in hand!

Ankhesenamun (Tutankhamun) was the first to go. Dec 30th. She was the most mature and also the biggest yield.

The highlights

Aurora (Northern Lights) was next, Dec 31st. Her yield was the second largest and just shy of her big sister.

Nefertiti (Tutankhamun) was last, Jan 1st. She was by far the smallest plant with the lowest yield but she was the frostiest. She had sugar on some of her long stemmed fan leaves.

I opted for wet trimming because, being my first grow, I read that its a bit easier to wet trim than dry. This is where I made a rookie mistake. The cold weather hit and here in the midwest, the temperature stayed in the single digits all weekend, drying out my basement. Temperatures were still pretty stable in the mid to low 60s but my humidity dropped into the 20s. Without lights and damp soil to bump my humidity, my buds dried very quickly. In an effort to slow them down, I got them into jars about a day before “the snap” and have been sweating them in jars for the last 2 days.

In the future, I will take RH into consideration before deciding to wet or dry trim.

As a note to you folks that trim buds for a living, you are doing God’s work. Trimming sucks. My three plants took about 12 hours (spread over 3 days) to harvest and trim. You guys that are growing large numbers of plants, I hope you have help. The labor involved in harvesting is enough for me to keep my grows to just 2 or 3 plants.

And now, for what we’ve been working towards:

“I present to you…Tutankhamun!”

Ankhesenamun
wet weight: 375g
trim: 113g
dry weight: 94g

Aurora
wet weight: 400g (I think I left more stem on her)
trim:99
dry weight: 89g

Nefertiti
wet weight: 184g
trim:69g
dry weight: 39g

Our total dried bud comes to 7.8 oz! Nearly 1/2 lb from three plants with a first time grower. I can’t tell you how excited I am about this yield! I would have been satisfied with a few oz, maybe 1/4 lb but I’m stoked with these results.

Thanks to ILGM and this forum all for your help and knowledge. To you guys that followed along and guided me through this, my hat’s off to you. I would never have accomplished this without you. To any new growers that read along, I hope you learned as much as I did. I’m hooked on growing and will be back with a second grow in a few months!
&

SilentHippie

[dbrn32]

No likes to give but awfully happy for you. Nice job! Now it’s time to enjoy the fruits of your labor.