Am I close to flushing?

[7.62]

Pinch a bud, dry it and see if it gives the effect you seek.

 

[LabRat]

I've tried the handheld jewelers loupe/microscope but I am far too unsteady to use one. I've invested in a USB microscope off amazon. The run between $20-40 and might be worthwhile.

If you're not steady enough for a loupe you'll have a worse time of it with a higher powered scope unless you can mount it on a tripod to hold it steady. The higher the magnification the steadier it must be held. I can see the trichs or bugs well enough with a 10X loupe.

I bought a USB scope that goes 60 - 1000X and has a wifi module so I can connect it to my phone and take pics down in the grow room without dragging my desktop PC down there. Lower resolution than what I can get connected to the PC but the pics are still really clear.

I took this pic yesterday of some weird bug eggs I found on the underside of a leaf on a male plant I dug out of my garden and brought inside to collect pollen. Never seen anything like it on any plant so have it in a small jar to see what hatches and hopefully identify them. This is with the rez set as low as it can go. The leaf is lying on my desk with the scope on the tripod.

 

[LabRat]

Improved taste and to wash away al the chemicals ive fed over the last 2 months?

Got some good bud going there but evidence of long term overfeeding. You can flush nutes out of the soil but not out of the plants once it's in there. The plant can use up some of the stored nutes that are causing the burn and signs of toxic salts buildup but at this stage they're not using a lot of nutes compared to when they first start flowering. Will still be good bud if dried slow and cured for a while so I'd be researching that to end up with a quality smoke.

I'd just give it water 'til the end now and RO water if you have it. Make it use it's stored nutes.

 

[Kevoz393]

Got some good bud going there but evidence of long term overfeeding. You can flush nutes out of the soil but not out of the plants once it's in there. The plant can use up some of the stored nutes that are causing the burn and signs of toxic salts buildup but at this stage they're not using a lot of nutes compared to when they first start flowering. Will still be good bud if dried slow and cured for a while so I'd be researching that to end up with a quality smoke.

I'd just give it water 'til the end now and RO water if you have it. Make it use it's stored nutes.

Hey Kevoz!

I'm still pretty new myself but I have picked up a couple things that might help you. The "days" seed companies state is the earliest possible with ideal conditions. Certainly you could harvest now or in a couple days but, I would advise waiting at least another week. Especially with some known issues I would give it a bit more time. You could always trim a small bud, quick dry it, and give it a sample to see if you like where it is maturity wise.

The "flush" is a controversial point. Much of what I've read of the new science says it's old bunk and unnecessary. Lots of leftover bad science and bro science out there. Do what you would like as it's your plant. I don't think a few days of just water at the end could hurt anything.

I've tried the handheld jewelers loupe/microscope but I am far too unsteady to use one. I've invested in a USB microscope off amazon. The run between $20-40 and might be worthwhile.

Happy growing.

Hi DC

Thanks for your comments,

I was kind of aware that the seed companies numbers take a bit longer but thank you for pointing it out..

I did cut off a couple of the buds a few days ago and very slowly dried them in the oven and after I had got the hang of drying them right I had
gone through nearly all of it and I didn't want to start attacking her again in case I stressed her out to much..

There has just been a very helpful post on here just now what says there is signs of overfeeding which I can well believe.. When I first set off and bear in mind im growing in coco I wanted to use as little nutes as possible but after a 2 weeks they were struggling so I added canna A+B..

Brown patches and slight yellowing appeared so I purchased calmag but I think although the PH was to low (4.?) I bought a cheap PH pen so im not 100% sure if the reading was right and if there was lockout or not..

I purchased a better PH pen and think I have it under control now my run off seems to be hovering around 5.5ph and after ive added nutes and ph up my water has been 6.5ph to try to get it up from 4.? I know its still a bit low..

Im using my iPhone and laptop to look at the trichomes and it seems to do the job for this one but I looked up what you said about the usb ones and I want one for next time lol..

Thanks again..

Kev

 

[Kevoz393]

Got some good bud going there but evidence of long term overfeeding. You can flush nutes out of the soil but not out of the plants once it's in there. The plant can use up some of the stored nutes that are causing the burn and signs of toxic salts buildup but at this stage they're not using a lot of nutes compared to when they first start flowering. Will still be good bud if dried slow and cured for a while so I'd be researching that to end up with a quality smoke.

I'd just give it water 'til the end now and RO water if you have it. Make it use it's stored nutes.

Many thanks LabRat now I think about it I more than likely did overfeed..

I will take on your advice to feed just water from now and hopefully I will see a few amber trichomes in the next week or two and I can then leave her in the dark for 2 days before chop..

After the 2 days I was going to chop and trim then dry for 4-6 days then put the buds in glass airtight jars but im not sure how to cure the correct way with burping but thanks I will look into it..

Cheers!

Kev..

 

[LabRat]

I purchased a better PH pen and think I have it under control now my run off seems to be hovering around 5.5ph and after ive added nutes and ph up my water has been 6.5ph to try to get it up from 4.? I know its still a bit low..

Did you get calibration fluid and hopefully some storage sol'n for your pen? With proper care a pH pen can last a decade but all will need proper calibration fairly often to make sure you're getting accurate results. Some pens require 2 point calibration to be dead accurate but just calibrating to pH7 is usually enough. I like to do pH4 as well once in a while tho I use pH Perfect AN nutes most of the time so don't bother testing pH with them. My pen has a clear cap and I keep storage sol'n in it when the pen is sitting on the shelf for months at a time. It slowly evaporates but the salts in it are still there so I'll just add a little RO water to it to keep the dilution approximately the same. For long term storage it's best to let it dry out then soak in storage sol'n for at least 24 hours before using it again. I keep a spray bottle of RO water for rinsing off after use or calibration but NEVER let the pen sit in pure water as it will leach the salts out of the glass bulb and destroy the probe.

Many thanks LabRat now I think about it I more than likely did overfeed..

I will take on your advice to feed just water from now and hopefully I will see a few amber trichomes in the next week or two and I can then leave her in the dark for 2 days before chop..

After the 2 days I was going to chop and trim then dry for 4-6 days then put the buds in glass airtight jars but im not sure how to cure the correct way with burping but thanks I will look into it..

Cheers!

Kev..

I never do the dark period before cropping. I take the top colas first then let the plants keep going for a week or more to let the lower, smaller colas ripen up and get fatter before taking them off. With my arthritis I only take as much off at a time that I can trim up in an hour or so in case my hands start cramping up and I'm forced to quit. For drying I put the trimmed buds into doubled up paper bags and keep down in my cool basement dumping out into a tray daily for the first week for maybe 30 - 60 min then back into the bags. If it's nice and cool like 45F during the winter I can take 3 - 5 weeks to get them dry enough tho still moist to put into tobacco cans for burping for another month. The first week or so in cans they need daily dumping out to air dry a bit to prevent mould. Bit of a hassle but the cure is really nice and the bud smokes so smooth.

The actual curing happens during the drying part with the burping more of an aging process like with wine. The pot need to be kept evenly moist for curing to happen. Once any goes dry it won't cure as the biological processes that do the curing stop in the dry portions. You can moisten it again but it's not going to cure anymore. I'm looking for a cheap used bar fridge to have better control over the temp and humidity for more consistent curing. The wife gets annoyed when everything in the fridge smells and tastes like pot.

Inattention to the process can result in mouldy buds and I've had that happen a couple times but it's small batches so not a great loss and a little mould doesn't hurt when it's made into concentrate for my own use. If it's all covered in white fuzz then into the compost or burning barrel it goes!

From this.

To this. OG#18

 

[DCLXVI]

@LabRat - Beautiful harvest there! And nice work hitting the important points of the pH pen with cal/storage fluids. Easily overlooked.

 

[Kevoz393]

Did you get calibration fluid and hopefully some storage sol'n for your pen? With proper care a pH pen can last a decade but all will need proper calibration fairly often to make sure you're getting accurate results. Some pens require 2 point calibration to be dead accurate but just calibrating to pH7 is usually enough. I like to do pH4 as well once in a while tho I use pH Perfect AN nutes most of the time so don't bother testing pH with them. My pen has a clear cap and I keep storage sol'n in it when the pen is sitting on the shelf for months at a time. It slowly evaporates but the salts in it are still there so I'll just add a little RO water to it to keep the dilution approximately the same. For long term storage it's best to let it dry out then soak in storage sol'n for at least 24 hours before using it again. I keep a spray bottle of RO water for rinsing off after use or calibration but NEVER let the pen sit in pure water as it will leach the salts out of the glass bulb and destroy the probe.



I never do the dark period before cropping. I take the top colas first then let the plants keep going for a week or more to let the lower, smaller colas ripen up and get fatter before taking them off. With my arthritis I only take as much off at a time that I can trim up in an hour or so in case my hands start cramping up and I'm forced to quit. For drying I put the trimmed buds into doubled up paper bags and keep down in my cool basement dumping out into a tray daily for the first week for maybe 30 - 60 min then back into the bags. If it's nice and cool like 45F during the winter I can take 3 - 5 weeks to get them dry enough tho still moist to put into tobacco cans for burping for another month. The first week or so in cans they need daily dumping out to air dry a bit to prevent mould. Bit of a hassle but the cure is really nice and the bud smokes so smooth.

The actual curing happens during the drying part with the burping more of an aging process like with wine. The pot need to be kept evenly moist for curing to happen. Once any goes dry it won't cure as the biological processes that do the curing stop in the dry portions. You can moisten it again but it's not going to cure anymore. I'm looking for a cheap used bar fridge to have better control over the temp and humidity for more consistent curing. The wife gets annoyed when everything in the fridge smells and tastes like pot.

Inattention to the process can result in mouldy buds and I've had that happen a couple times but it's small batches so not a great loss and a little mould doesn't hurt when it's made into concentrate for my own use. If it's all covered in white fuzz then into the compost or burning barrel it goes!

From this.

View attachment 1344908

To this. OG#18

View attachment 1344909

Many thanks again and I thought rinsing the ph pen under the tap would do.. I will have to learn how to calibrate my pen, hopefully
I can find instructions online although it baffled me when my first pen went haywire lol..

Your weed looks great I will take on board what you said..

 

[LabRat]

Many thanks again and I thought rinsing the ph pen under the tap would do.. I will have to learn how to calibrate my pen, hopefully
I can find instructions online although it baffled me when my first pen went haywire lol..

Your weed looks great I will take on board what you said..

The website for your pen should have instructions on how to calibrate and clean if something didn't come with the pen like mine has but it was $70 and worth the extra cash. It's made by Eutech/Oakton and my previous one was just Oakton and was $125. It finally wore out and a new probe was $75 + shipping so cheaper to buy a new one.

You can just google 'pH pen maintenance' and should find lots of good links. Care and cleaning are the same for all of them but calibration methods can be different. Mine auto-calibrates to the closest standard being used. Stick it in pH 7 and hit the calibrate button and it goes to 7. Same when I use 4. Some have a tiny screw to make adjustments with bu that's usually with PPM pens which need calibration as well. The probe for those should be sprayed off with pure water and allowed to dry before putting the cap on. The opposite of how to store the pH pen.

Don't use a stiff brush to clean it. That glass ball is really fragile as it's so thin ions can pass thru it and is how it reads the pH. The little reference probe beside it is OK unless it goes all black then a 2-part cleaning sol'n should be used to get it cleaned up. Even when black the pen will still be accurate but really slow to settle on a fixed reading. Mines a lot faster than when it was before I cleaned it but slower than new for sure. Talking 30sec instead of 15sec so not a big deal and I rarely use it.

 

[Cookiemonster69]

If you're not steady enough for a loupe you'll have a worse time of it with a higher powered scope unless you can mount it on a tripod to hold it steady. The higher the magnification the steadier it must be held. I can see the trichs or bugs well enough with a 10X loupe.

I bought a USB scope that goes 60 - 1000X and has a wifi module so I can connect it to my phone and take pics down in the grow room without dragging my desktop PC down there. Lower resolution than what I can get connected to the PC but the pics are still really clear.

I took this pic yesterday of some weird bug eggs I found on the underside of a leaf on a male plant I dug out of my garden and brought inside to collect pollen. Never seen anything like it on any plant so have it in a small jar to see what hatches and hopefully identify them. This is with the rez set as low as it can go. The leaf is lying on my desk with the scope on the tripod.

View attachment 1344586

View attachment 1344590

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG THEY LOOK LIKE EYESSS