Organic Indica Grow

[stellis0358]

I have tried very frosty flowers that looked better than the effects and have also tried less sparkly but high quality

That's where patience comes in and knowing the best time to harvest. The trichomes mean nothing if they don't contain much cannabanoids. In the past ive been impatient and maybe harvesting a little too early. l've always harvested at the first sign of a single amber trichome. I'm going to wait a little longer for this grow and harvest when I see a fair amount of trichomes turned amber. Maybe it's my imagination but it seems like I see more stalked trichomes on these than I have in past plants.

 

[Creeperpark]

Your plants look pretty friend. You are kicking ass with this garden. Your organic skills are paying off by the looks of those flowers. For me, It's easy to fall into the "too early harvest" because those flowers look good. Waiting a couple of extra weeks increases the weight of the buds as well as raises the quality. Thanks for sharing your skills and keep us posted.

 

[stellis0358]

I saw enough amber trichomes to make me decide to harvest. I want to minimize any THC degredation. Harvested 3 girls, the other 2 need more time. Just a sneak preview of one of the colas.

 

[Creeperpark]

I saw enough amber trichomes to make me decide to harvest. I want to minimize any THC degredation. Harvested 3 girls, the other 2 need more time. Just a sneak preview of one of the colas.

Damn, that's a pretty top friend. You kicked ass with this garden.

 

[stellis0358]

Week 8 of flower. Still waiting for 2 girls to ripen. I also did some crosses with my Haze pollen so waiting for those seeds to ripen as well. The girl in the back right corner is a Haze seed run - waiting for seeds to ripen.

3 females harvested and hanging last week.

Of the 3 females harvested last week I ended up yielding -

Purple Afghan Kush x Peanut Butter Breath #1
7gal fabric pot
2.12 Oz good smoking bud
.75 Oz popcorn buds
.38 Oz trim

Purple Afghan Kush x Peanut Butter Breath #2
7gal fabric pot
1.92 Oz good smoking bud
1.28 Oz popcorn buds
.39 Oz trim

Pakistani Chitral Kush x Maruf Black. Earthbox. 2oz good smoking bud 2.8oz popcorn buds

Out of the 2.8oz popcorn buds I could have trimmed up more smaller buds for smoking but after trimming 2 other plants before this one I've had enough. I make a lot of butter so I decided to save some time and just toss those into the butter pile. The earthbox clearly yielded a bit more than the 7 gal fabric pots. I will probably buy 2 more.

Preparing the earthbox for next run. Layed down some fresh cover crop and gave it a good top watering. I have NL#5 and Skunk#1 in the nursery and plan to do those next once I've got them sexed and cloned. When the time comes to transplant I will chop and drop the cover crop, reammend with craftblend, sprouted barley/corn/lentils, bokashi and the usual optiveg and rootwise mycorrhizae. Then top dress with compost and worm castings.

 

[TheCannaCreator]

Day 31 Flower - just a few progress pics to share

Great looking plants! What is your process for switching to organic?

 

[stellis0358]

Great looking plants! What is your process for switching to organic?

If you go back to the original post of this thread it outlines everything I did to set up this organic grow. I took a chance and reused some potting soil used in previous grows then added my inputs to it. But you can also build your soil by adding the same exact inputs to 1 part peat, 1 part compost and 1 part aeration - that is really the way to go to be sure you're starting out fresh. By reusing spent potting soil I took a chance not knowing what might be leftover in the potting soil I used but it seems to have worked out.

And as the thread moves forward I showed my feeding schedule throughout veg and flower. I used to grow with synthetics and organic is a little more hands on but I feel it's worth it. In my opinion the smoke is cleaner tasting, no need for flushing and if done right you shouldn't have any issues with burned plants. You're feeding the soil not the plant. Set your containers up with a nice buffet of inputs and your plants will take up the nutrients when it needs them as long as you make them available to the plants in the soil.

If you choose to go with 15gal or greater containers you should be able to get by with water only after the initial input additions

You will also need to learn how to deal with fungus gnats when growing organically. I'm not 100% sure but I think it's unavoidable because you're using compost. I had a problem with them in this grow. I tried Athena IPM but only sprayed the surface. I was afraid of doing a thorough soil drench with it because I wasn't sure if it would kill my worms. It knocked them back a bit but didn't eradicate them. So I resorted to a vinegar trap, fly strips, and a layer of diatomaceous earth in my containers and that got rid of them at least to the extent where I hardly saw anymore gnats afterwards.

Hope all this helps!

 

[oldmaninbc]

If you go back to the original post of this thread it outlines everything I did to set up this organic grow. I took a chance and reused some potting soil used in previous grows then added my inputs to it. But you can also build your soil by adding the same exact inputs to 1 part peat, 1 part compost and 1 part aeration - that is really the way to go to be sure you're starting out fresh. By reusing spent potting soil I took a chance not knowing what might be leftover in the potting soil I used but it seems to have worked out.

And as the thread moves forward I showed my feeding schedule throughout veg and flower. I used to grow with synthetics and organic is a little more hands on but I feel it's worth it. In my opinion the smoke is cleaner tasting, no need for flushing and if done right you shouldn't have any issues with burned plants. You're feeding the soil not the plant. Set your containers up with a nice buffet of inputs and your plants will take up the nutrients when it needs them as long as you make them available to the plants in the soil.

If you choose to go with 15gal or greater containers you should be able to get by with water only after the initial input additions

You will also need to learn how to deal with fungus gnats when growing organically. I'm not 100% sure but I think it's unavoidable because you're using compost. I had a problem with them in this grow. I tried Athena IPM but only sprayed the surface. I was afraid of doing a thorough soil drench with it because I wasn't sure if it would kill my worms. It knocked them back a bit but didn't eradicate them. So I resorted to a vinegar trap, fly strips, and a layer of diatomaceous earth in my containers and that got rid of them at least to the extent where I hardly saw anymore gnats afterwards.

Hope all this helps!

Fungus gnats are a big problem where I live. One time they were so bad I was using the vacuum cleaner to suck them up. I went to the local nursery to ask what they thought, it was suggested I try nematodes. Once they hatched and got busy, the gnats completely disappeared. Nematodes are very effective. OH, that's a great looking harvest.