My first grow - journal w/ pics

[ZBeebs]

Here is almost all of the harvested bud in jars. Those are 32 oz mason jars, except the one in the front is 16oz. Sorry, didn't have the good camera handy when I took this.



I have since spread the bud across more jars, some of them were packed tighter than I'd have liked.

I have been smoking the bho I've made almost exclusively lately, it's amazing how far a gram of that stuff goes. I have a freezer full of trim and buds to make more bho too...enough to last a long time...I am concerned about sending my tolerance through the roof but so far it hasn't been an issue. While my wife and I were away for the weekend I brought some of the Vanilla Kush with me instead of the bho and was surprised by the strength. I smoked a couple bowls before my wife and I went out for the day, and was nicely stoned for more than 2 hours, which for me is longer than usual. Still not thrilled with the yields of those plants, but the smoke is good. Did I mention the buds smell like no other? I have never smelling weed like this before...I don't even know how to explain it...Maybe USBL who recommended it can explain it better than me...

The buds were trimmed too soon, the moisture level as read by the hygrometers is too high, one of the jars jumped to 88% while I was away. Luckily, there are no signs of mold at all. Right now, I have all the jars open with the lids covering about 2/3rds of the opening allowing some air to exchange. I have been checking them by sealing them up with a hygrometer, when they stay in the low 60's range, I will seal them up and only burp them.

I will get some nice bud shots up soon as well.

Also need to get my sour 60 seeds going...But this time I'm not going to blast the seedlings with the 600w light like I did last time...Going to hang a couple cfl's over the plants at first, then hit 'em with the big one. I've got ten regular seeds, going to plant them all and hope for at least 50% females.

[SkinAnother]

I am drooling!! Lovely! Great work, I can't wait to see the budshots.

SA

[Uncle Ron]

I have since spread the bud across more jars, some of them were packed tighter than I'd have liked.

My young Padawon, have you not learned, only fill the container(s) half to three quarters full of bud.

The buds were trimmed too soon, the moisture level as read by the hygrometers is too high, one of the jars jumped to 88% while I was away. Luckily, there are no signs of mold at all.

I warned you of this, did I not? Yes I did. You DID NOT trim too soon, what you DID DO was to leave the gear in the jars too long between "burps". I've said it before, I'll say it again, when curing, the first two weeks the container(s) should be opened once a day for approximately 15-30 minutes. After two weeks, open the container(s) once every other day for 15 minutes, no more. From my experiences, any longer and the bud will dry/cure too quickly, then it's reconstitute time (with a sliver of lemon/orange/lime/etc...).
Others have commented in this thread that there are better and quicker ways to cure. I'm still waiting to hear these methods... Until then, what I wrote above has proven to me to be the best method of curing.

I've got ten regular seeds, going to plant them all and hope for at least 50% females.

Read up on what you can do to ensure the greatest possibility for females. Hint, it has mostly to do with nutrients, temp, and humidity, all other things considered.

Congratulations.
Enjoy the fruits of your labor.
Happy farming...

[bleak]

Looks amazing, congrats on your success!!!

[Nick Potter]

Thanks ZBeebs for this fine work. Look forward for it to continue with your second grow.

[Mike93]

hi Zbeeds,

hows the smoke of the rockland looks like a interesting and good strain for a beginner like me to grow

btw pictures look great

[ZBeebs]

So far, I have only smoked the Kandy Kush and the Vanilla Kush. The KK was pulled a bit early, and starts with a head high that doesn't stick around too long. The VK as I have already mentioned is a heavy hitter, long lasting stone.

I haven't yet smoked the rocklock, exile or pineapple express, I have so much of the VK, I can allow those three strains to cure properly before trying them out.

If you're looking for easy to grow, of the 5 strains I would not suggest the Kandy Kush or Exile, they were way more sensitive to the nutes that the other three, which took everything I threw at them with no problem, I probably could have been more agressive feeding them.

Right now, I have my grow room broken down and everything hidden away. The gas company has been trying to get in the house to read the meter for months now, since before I started the grow. It seems they don't trust homeowners to do meter readings for more than 6 months in a row, so they need someone to make sure I'm not under-reporting our gas usage (and of course, underpaying). The meter is in the same room as the grow tent...

Once they get the meter read, I will put everything back up and get started on the sour 60 grow...

More pics still to come...will get some shots of the cured buds soon...I think all I've posted good pics of is the Kandy Kush?

[Mike93]

Thanks for the quick reply.

The rockland looks a good yeilder as well

[ZBeebs]

The root balls and leaves are gone. Glad that's over with, I didn't want to keep that stuff on my property.

Here are a couple pics, they are all Vanilla Kush. Not sure which plant the first couple pics are from, but the last two are from the purple one, which I think was the last one I harvested.

The purple one smells much different than the other four, a really fruity, sweet smell, as opposed to the strong flowery fragrance the rest of the vk has.

[Cal X]

Glimmering with Trichs, good job ZBeebs!

[DanFromUk]

The best first grow I have ever ever seen in my intire life without doubt..............

Well done......

Do you post to uk? lol

[ZBeebs]

Sorry I haven't updated. Probably have been enjoying the fruits of my labor too much!

I have made bho from most of the trimmings/lower buds now. Have quite a bit of it around, even though I've been smoking it daily for about a month now. Still have some trimmings/lower buds in the freezer, I think from two of the nine plants...not sure which plants though, while I did a good job labelling the plants while growing and jars with bud in it, I didn't bother to label the containers that had the trimmings, so except for guessing based on smell, Im not sure which is which.

While making bho, I found about 15 seeds in one of the containers. So, one of the plants hermied? I'm guessing since I only found those 15 seeds, and have come across no seeds in any of the bud I've been smoking, it was isolated to a single branch. I haven't smoked samples from all the jars yet, so there may be more. I won't know for a while. I may plant those seeds some time in the future to see what I get.

I have sampled all the strains except rocklock, and don't enjoy the exile. The high is OK, but the taste/smell I just don't like. Probably because of overfeeding nutes. Remember, that one burned pretty bad. I've made bho from some of it, and the taste is much improved...will probably turn all the exile into bho...

The Pineapple Express is a nice daytime smoke. It seems to be a indica/sativa cross, I find I can get a good amount of stuff done after a couple bong hits. Neutral taste, and relatively smooth. I can take multiple bong hits of this stuff one after the other and not cough up a lung. Densest buds of the plants I grew, and even though this was one of the shortest plants, it had the highest yield of all of them. Not the strongest, but definitely enjoyable.

Still haven't smoked the rocklock yet. I will tonight, as well as post some more pics of the cured buds.

[ZBeebs]

I also have not been able to start my second grow yet. Since I will have my parents staying with me at the end of May, I ran out of time to grow and dry before they get here...I was guessing I'd need 60 days to grow, and 5 days of drying...They will be here in 6 weeks now, so not gonna happen...But the first weekend in June, the tent goes back up and it begins anew. I have everything I need to get started...I just need to decide if I'm going to still do the Sour 60 next or not. I also have a 5 pack of Barneys LSD and a 5 pack of Big Buddah Blue Cheese as well as 7 assorted freebies from that order. Still leaning towards the Sour 60, since I'd like to get more bud in jars as fast as possible, so I don't end up having to buy again.

[Uncle Ron]

Thanks for the recap/update. The gear in the pics looks exquisite, delish even.
Sounds like you have a base plan for your next grow, but I noticed you mentioning growing different strains. May I suggest that you carefully select plants that have similar characteristics, especially size (height in particular). Mixing short and tall plants will most likely be problematic, distance to light and all that, as you discovered. In addition, there may be an issue with the micro-climate, ie... temp and humidity. Something else to consider is that some strains thrive in extreme climates while others wilt. Food for thought...

Thank you for sharing your grow experience with us.
Until the next time(?)...

Happy farming...

[Cal X]

Hey ZBeebs! Summer's comin up, which means possible heat problems, so I'd go with the Sour 60; that way you might be able to beat the hottest months. Plus, it looks like it might be one of the better Autos; curious to hear what it smokes and tastes like!