New Grower Mephisto, Megacrop in soil and autopots (Skywalker, 3BOG, Sour Stomper, and 2 Illuminautos)

[terp182]

Day 65
Here's Day 65. I had to stake the 3BOG last night, and will need to add more stakes tomorrow. The Skywalker is still swelling up, and the Sour Stomper is climbing and swelling. I realized I probably wasn't using the Recharge enough, since 3 of the 4 big plants keep yellowing near the tops (despite the lights being at 24" and 50/75% respectively), and they get greener after I bottom feed recharge. So they've gotten another gallon in the last couple days, and will again after I fill the res tomorrow. Seems like a good adjunct for when the reservoir stabilizes with the pump on and main valve to the pots off for a few hours. I'm sticking to ~1 g Bud Explosion per gallon instead of the recommended 1.5 g/gal since the Sweet n Smelly isn't deep into flower yet.

The 3 Bears and the Sky will definitely be ready first, and I've noticed signs of ripening like the pistils shrinking up on top of the colas on those two, so now I'm looking at trichromes. Given their almost ideal VPD and other conditions almost 100% of the time from sprout with these two, I'm thinking they may be ready by the end of the weekend or next week. They've flowered almost entirely at 48-55% RH, 78-80 leaf temp, 20 hours of light daily with the room temp around 80-85. I'm not sure if that temp and VPD micromanagement will speed up the ripening of autoflowers, or photos for that matter, but that's why I'm looking at trichromes on the Skywalker, 3 Bears, and solo cup Sweet n Smelly at the start of the harvest window, which is today. The Sour Stomper is at least a week behind, with swollen white pistils and verticality still being added, and the big multipotted Sweet n Smelly and 50 Shades of Grape are farther from done still, still packing on white pistils.

Any idears on trichrome done-ness with these three? I'm looking more for cloudy, full trichs than x% amber blah blah, since these two will mainly be fresh frozen and hashed into live rosin.

 

[BigB6]

Shit looks amazing. What training did you do?

 

[terp182]

Thanks! Very little training - I topped the Skywalker at 7 nodes, each plant got 3 or 4 tie backs on a branch to open up light a little, and then I bent the dominant cola stems with plastic clips until the canopies evened out. That’s it!

 

[WildBill]

Bad ass work terp182!!

A little hard to tell with the pics, but still seeing some clears.

 

[terp182]

Here’s the noob harvester showing - is the standard I’m looking for simply “no clear heads”? I have to admit this is the part that gives me the most anxiety - ripening and harvesting. My plan is to not flush and give them 24 or 48 hrs of darkness before chop. I have to keep nutes on to the back plants though and am not concerned with “flush” issues as much as harvesting at peak quality/ripeness.

Good problems to have!

 

[WildBill]

Here’s the noob harvester showing - is the standard I’m looking for simply “no clear heads”? I have to admit this is the part that gives me the most anxiety - ripening and harvesting. My plan is to not flush and give them 24 or 48 hrs of darkness before chop. I have to keep nutes on to the back plants though and am not concerned with “flush” issues as much as harvesting at peak quality/ripeness.

Good problems to have!

For what you're gonna do with it, I'd say to shoot for no clears, but if ya see ambers, I'd take it down. This is just from observation of a ton here. Sometimes you'll get ambers while waiting for all to get cloudy.

 

[terp182]

Yup that’s exactly the situation I’ll be avoiding, hopefully.

The smell was kicked up a lot from the 3 Bears this morning when I went in. Another good sign!

 

[YoungGrassh0pper]

Looking great Terp! Pretty much did the same training to my 50 Shades of grape, but I topped at 4th node. Loving the results. Will train that way on my whole crop next time. Gonna pull up a chair and see how frosty they get

 

[terp182]

Day 68

After seeing some ambers in a close up shot yesterday, I almost put the Skywalker into the dark. Instead, I ended up moderately defoliating every plant, something I should have probably done a week ago. The Skywalker has started its fade, as has the 3BOG. I’m dialing back the nutes from 575ish to 500ish, and then to 450ish tomorrow and maybe more after that to hopefully stress/stimulate the Skywalker and 3 Bears to kick in a bit more trichrome production before they go in the dark for 48 hours and then chop.
The Sour Stomper is still stacking and adding frosting, and really benefited from the moderate defol. The Sweet n Smelly is stressed, along with the 50 Shades of Grape it’s potted with. There’s yellowing on the topmost leaves. Maybe she prefers less light? The Sour Stomper beside her is exploding. And the light is 24” up and just over 50%. She smells great though and is climbing and stacking, maybe a week behind the Sour Stomper. I hope the temporary nute attenuation won’t affect them too much.
Pics are below. The Skywalker has started its fade and is looking pretty. That’ll be the first to go, followed by the 3BOG. When, remains to be seen! I’m checking the trichromes on those two daily at this point.

 

[terp182]

Day 72/73 - Skywalker and 3BOG chop days

Eventful few days. After erroneously thinking the Skywalker was ready to chop on Monday I put it in the dark for 48 hours. However, when I took it out Wednesday I saw more clear heads then I wanted, so back in the tent it went. Then yesterday, I checked and they were 80% cloudy and beautiful, so down it went. I saved the best 7 top colas and some attached buds, and the rest got processed for WP and put into the freezer. The 3BOG is coming down in an hour, and is absolutely stanky with drippy watermelon dank ness. She’s going to be mostly processed for curing, so just a few big chops and into the closet.

The pistils on the Sour Stomper shrank up overnight and she’s started her fade, so I’m guessing 4 or 5 more days with her. I’ll start checking her trichromes close up tonight.

Overall, I couldn’t be happier with this grow, except for the yellow leaves on that Sweet n Smelly. And now that it’s harvested, I can manage RH and VPD without the dehumidifier.