What's new
  • Happy Birthday ICMag! Been 20 years since Gypsy Nirvana created the forum! We are celebrating with a 4/20 Giveaway and by launching a new Patreon tier called "420club". You can read more here.
  • Important notice: ICMag's T.O.U. has been updated. Please review it here. For your convenience, it is also available in the main forum menu, under 'Quick Links"!

Marineman's 1st grow journal - 600w Bio buckets

marinemansf

Member
HEYO!! Been awhile since my last update so I thought id go ahead and throw up a few new pics. I think less posts = less questions = great teachers! You two in case you were wondering lol.

Also, I picked up some bug strips, also included in the pics. Crave, how come you do a few days on, then freeze em?

Crave, was wondering if you could define what you meant by "sucker branches." Also I did some reading about how to make hash, and have a decent understanding of how to make it, but was wondering how you go about making yours. I have two books that I picked up awhile back (pic below) and they gave me a good idea of how to make it, but im looking for those experienced makers tips, ie freezing the cuttings first.
 

Attachments

  • 20140506_105017.jpg
    20140506_105017.jpg
    47.8 KB · Views: 12
  • 20140507_182921.jpg
    20140507_182921.jpg
    62.2 KB · Views: 10
  • 20140507_182213.jpg
    20140507_182213.jpg
    104.3 KB · Views: 10
  • 20140507_182150.jpg
    20140507_182150.jpg
    59 KB · Views: 9
  • 20140507_182235.jpg
    20140507_182235.jpg
    61.1 KB · Views: 13
Last edited:

cravin morehead

Active member
Veteran
Hate to break it to ya, but those are the wrong pest strips. The ones you want are "hot shot no pest strips" available at home depot and Lowe's. The ones you got are good to see if or which bugs you have. Not a total waste. I'm a little confused, 3 days and freeze? I freeze my trim for hash. And I cycle the no pest strips in 3 day intervals. I do this because alot of the pests I am targeting, will hatch their eggs in 2-3 day intervals. So by doing the 3 day rotation 3 times, I hope to completely break their breeding cycle. I put them I. Ziploc bags to not waste them. They are not sticky traps. They put off a fume of insect killing stuff. They are strong, so I don't use them in flower. I don't want those fumes in my smoke. But, they work awesome.
Wow, your plants are really filling in nice. Looking good. I see a big difference from your last pics. how the roots looking?

cm
 

cravin morehead

Active member
Veteran
ok marine. here you go dude:

these are suckers on a tomato plant, exactly the same. works great on tomatos too. lets the plant focus its energy on main flowers. makes them big, tight, and delicious. helps reduce 'popcorn' 'fluffy' buds:


these are the no pest strips you want:


as far as how i make my hash, well i make bubble hash. dam good bubble if i do say so myself. there are a number of tricks in making it. its part art and part science. don't over or under load your buckets with trim and ice. use lots of ice and cold water. don't over mix it, ruins the quality. let it dry the fuck out before putting it in a container. it will mold if not. and it molds from the inside out, so theres no saving it once you see mold= trash. check out you tube and look for videos made by the bubbleman. i use his brand of bags. and i will say they are great. used them for years and years and they still look practically new. will last forever.
more pics!!

cm
 
Last edited:
Wow those roots look awesome!Is that a c99 cross or something else? Those strips you bought do work for other things so no waste!!
 

marinemansf

Member
Hey crave, thanks for all the great info! As far as the pest strips, and the "3 days and freeze," I was referring to the hot shot pest strips you were talking about. And you answered my question. Just wasnt sure why you did 3 days, and then froze them. Makes sense now though. And as far as the strips I got, theyre more for a preventative measure than anything. And Im actually glad I picked them up instead of the hot shots, knowing now what you told me about not using the hot shots during flower. What do you use if you get an infestation during flower though? Also the hydro store guy told me that atrozol (sp?) is just a concentrated form of neem oil. Is that correct?

I did some trimming of the sucker branches this morning. Now are suckers only directly off of the main stalk? Or do they grow on secondary branches as well? I also removed some very tiny new growths not on the nodes, but at the base of the main stalk. Not sure if those are also referred to as suckers or not.

I also did a little rearranging of the ladies today, I moved my strongest two gals to the middle two buckets and moved the smaller ones to the outsides? Good, bad or doesnt matter? My reasoning behind it was, it would give the two strongest gals the best chance at making killer buds, and would give the lesser gals slightly cooler conditions to catch up.

Also, a few weeks back we talked about air circulation in regards to the res. So until this crop finishes up, I decided to crack the lid on the res a bit, prior to that it was locked down. I did/do have a small air pump, pumping air into the res, but I think until I get a change to rework my system, cracking the lid at least helps/helped a bit, cause the roots are starting to look better each time I check em.

And finally, I was thinking about what you said about the lava rock. Do you think it would be beneficial to add some lava rock to the res, and/or the buckets before this run finishes? I just thought adding some to the res might increase the benes. Not sure though. There has been some hydroton in the res from the beginning, with the same thought process of increasing benes.

Got some new pics for that ass.

Oh also the light is currently about a foot and a half to two feet from the top of the canopy at the moment. How far away should I be placing the light?
 

Attachments

  • 20140508_174508.jpg
    20140508_174508.jpg
    65.7 KB · Views: 10
  • 20140508_175058.jpg
    20140508_175058.jpg
    40.8 KB · Views: 10
  • 20140508_174336.jpg
    20140508_174336.jpg
    60.1 KB · Views: 9
  • 20140508_174311.jpg
    20140508_174311.jpg
    70.5 KB · Views: 10
  • 20140508_174441.jpg
    20140508_174441.jpg
    69.4 KB · Views: 9
  • 20140508_175233.jpg
    20140508_175233.jpg
    75 KB · Views: 9
Last edited:

cravin morehead

Active member
Veteran
hey bud
im not sure about azatrol, but i do use it in veg and preflower. i try to have all the pests taken care of before flowering, preventative style. ya, i remove all suckers that are not the main branches. i just try to flower the tops. but then again, a little bit of the fluffy popcorn buds are good for hash making. as far as rearranging goes, thats up to you. i don't know the exacts of your set-up so can't tell you for sure. your call. air circulation in the reservoir is crucial. i'm sure cracking the lid open is a good move. just watch out for algae growing in your res. algae would be stealing nutes from your plants. lava in the res might help a little. but mainly you want the bennies in your root zone. they live right where the water and air meet. so in your res, you'd have to put enough in to rise above the surface of the water line. i'd just stick with what you've got for this round. as far as light height goes, put them as low as the plants can take it. a simple way to test this is to place your hand between the lights and plant tops. if you can hold it there for a minute without getting too hot, thats probably a good height. always error on the safe side of things. your plants take the hit for your errors.
looks like your buds are setting up nice. this is the fun part, watching them grow everyday. sometimes its amazing how much they grow in a day. enjoy the ride. start learning how to tell when they are done. and start reading up on processing and curing. got a good spot to dry your harvest yet? this is a great thread on curing your harvest: https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=156237
read it through and do just as it suggests.
plants are looking good. roots are showing some good growth too. next round will blow you away with the right bio set up. have you started aquiring the new stuff you need for upgrading next round. you may want to have that stuff around sooner than later. because you are going to be chomping at the bit to start your next round. next round, if you're going to use clones, you better be growing out your seeds now. mother plants need to be mature before you take donors off her. or your next round will suffer. starting from seed can eat up valuable time too. it adds time and size to your veg period. leading to plants that are a little too big come flowering stretch and stuff. just some things to think about for your next run. i ususally take clones just after harvest time. gives me a week or two to dry and jar my harvest and re-establish the bennies in the netpots before more plants go in. i dry in my tent with lights off and fans on. so cleaning the lava and such happens while the harvest is hanging in the tent.

cm
 

cravin morehead

Active member
Veteran
hey toker, sorry just read you question. i'm not sure what my plants are. the seed is a bagseed from the 90's i think. just found it in an old stash box in the back of my garage freezer. the little baggie said "lyle bud seed". we used to get bud from a guy named lyle back in the day. always was killer smoke, always. if i remember right, this is the only seed we found in pounds and pounds of bud we got from him over the years. still trying to clone it, hasn't been working for me. i will still try though. it smells great. real skunky and got a citrus scent in there too. its leaning sativa, so there could be some c99 in there, kinda reminds me of my c99bxI's. we'll see. i'm popping a couple new seeds today too. not sure which ones yet, i'll let you guys know...

cm
 

marinemansf

Member
Thank you as always for the info and quick response brochacho!

I just did a search for White widow x big bud flowering time, and holy shit! I originally thought the flowering time for this strain was around 80 days, then I saw its more like 60! Which means I have a little more than a month till its all done! Now I see why you say I should have everything set for the next go around! Heres a link to that site I was referring to.

http://en.**********.eu/strain-info/X-Line_White_Widow_x_Big_Bud/Female_Seeds/

As far as algae, I know all too well the effects it can have on plants. My last/first attempt at growing got fucked up by algae. But I did re-cover my res with blankets, just took off the blankets to get a good shot of what I was talking about.

As far as harvesting goes, I have been doing quite a bit of research and reading on the subject. The book I showed you a pic of a few posts ago, Dr Ed Rosenthal's MJ growers handbooks has been very helpful on the subject, great color pics and illustrations! The second book has good info, but the lack of color pics really hinders how much I can learn from it. Anyway, I do have a good place to dry and cure, and MJ growers handbook says its ok to use a dehumidifier to speed up the process a bit. Is that correct? Anything else that can speed it up? I will be using a room just outside the grow room for curing, which is in my basement. Nice and dry down there. My humidity downstairs has been ranging from 30% to a max of 50%. Was also thinking about using a spare bedroom that I have, for a curing room. Reason being, is that it has a door on it that I could completely close off and make it dry as fuck in it. Not sure which route Ill go with that though.

I have been doing price checks on the things ill need for my next run. Only problem is, its going to be about a bit expensive to get everything I need. So Ive been saving up. Hopefully Ill have enough moola this next month. Heres what I believe I need and the prices Ive found so far.

Tent 6x6: $240
Carbon Filter: $160
6 inch Fan Controller $30
2000 GPH Water pump: about $200
Cooler to make into new res: $20
Carts for stands: $30
Plumping parts for rework of bucket lines: $40
Fans for res: $20
Lava rock: $20
Total: around $760

Now thats all retail prices from stores, Im sure I could get that total down a bit if I go online and maybe get a used tent.

What brand of lava rock do you use? Pic of it? Also if you could make a parts list of what you used to make your set up that would save alot of the guess work, if its too big a hassle, I totally understand. Im going for an exact copy of your setup thats all.

Also, I was wondering if you could take a pic of the entire root system of one of your gals. Just interested what the entire system looks like. Again, if its too big a pain in the ass, I understand.

And finally, I think I will be going from seeds again on the next round. Just would rather switch from my WWxBB to Northern Lights, and then keep one of the NL's as a mother and run clones of that for the 3rd run. Time to order some seeds!
 
Some of the best info ive seen on the net cravin.If possible get clones going now! Or get your seeds germinating.The key to keeping the wheels rolling is to master cloning.This round i only had one mother plant of each strain and it slowed me down.Timing is everything to keep smoking and not have to pay.I havent bought bud in awhile.Good luck and good progress.
 

cravin morehead

Active member
Veteran
thanks for the compliments buds. i just try to only put up info that i know about. if i don't know about it, i will say so. already enough mis-information out there. toker is completely right, again. everything having to do with growing comes down to timing and being able to plan ahead. i too haven't bought buds in years. i do however, trade oz for oz with a club or 2 and a friend or 2. just to mix it up and keep up on whats going around.
brochacho- hahaha!
i got that ed rosenthal book too. pretty good info. a little dated, but most still applies. most indicas/hybrids will go around 60 days or so. that is not cut in stone. you must judge for yourself when to chop. as for drying, i prefer to keep humidity around 50%-60%. a slow dry is what you are after. too dry and too quick can lead to harsh buds that never really cure right. if you do it right, you can be smoking tasty cured buds for a year or more. i am currently smoking my c99bx1 from just over a year ago. tasy as ever, and flavor has changed over that time period.
as far as a total parts list, wow that would be huge. i'll try to give you an explanation of it. that along with pics in my album bio-bucket tent build ( https://www.icmag.com/ic/album.php?albumid=36415) should take care of it. i have made some changes since those pics, but most of it still applies.
my main supply line from the pump is 3/4" pvc. i made a closed loop manifold to go around the buckets. at each bucket there is a 3/4x3/4x 1/2" 'tee'. from the tee, i got a 1/2" ball valve to regulate flow to each bucket. if i don't regulate the flow, i can very easily over run the drains capabilities, huge mess. from the valve is 1/2" drinking water safe garden hose to the 90* fitting going through the wall of the bucket. the return lines at each bucket are 1 1/2" bulkhead fittings. there is also a 90* fitting where the return line meets the 2" main return line, the main return line is running slightly downhill to the reservoir. about 1/4" fall per foot to the reservoir. under each bucket i have another valve attached with a bulkhead fitting. each valve has a thread adapter to go from pipe thread to male garden hose thread. i just attach a garden hose at each bucket, open the valve and drain the bucket. its really a convenience thing. hope that helps you out. i think by looking at my album real close and reading this and BigToke's thread, you could figure out whats going on.
as far as brand of lava rock, there is no brand. like i said, its either landscaping decorative rock in bulk or from the bbq section of HD or Lowes. just wash it real good as i described earlier. read what i posted as far as which color red or black rocks to use.
as for getting a pic of the whole root system of one plant, that'll have to wait until the chop. way too heavy to lift out a whole plant and take a pic one-handed. plus i don't want to fuck with the roots in this stage of flowering. remind me at harvest time and i'll get a good root porn shot for you. besides that you'll need the correct sized hole saws and drill motor. and simple hand tools. be sure to prime and glue all fittings soundly. don't want to be chasing leaks. do it right the first time. don't rush and don't cut any corners.
for alot of things on your list, i think you can find better prices online. this place has great prices on grow equipment:
http://www.greners.com/
don't get a used tent. could be infested with mold, critters, or just maybe a piece of shit. some older tents had off gassing problems. they would slowly kill your plants looking like every other problem in the book. impossible to diagnose. so stick with brand new to be sure you aren't inheriting someone elses nightmare. you could just make a couple changes this time and change more next time. if you did, i would go for tent, pump and lava first. then again, living in the midwest, i would imagine a carbon filter is really important. so, its your call again. security is huge!! as far as stands and cooler and such, keep your eyes open for sales locally. memorial weekend is coming up, sure to be coolers on sale then.
i've only ran NL#5. it was good. i liked it for breeding material. good structure and good bud formations with short flowering times. i crossed it with some of Chimera's Calizahr and mendocino purple. i have yet to sprout those seeds.
still trying to decide what to sprout now. i want something for outdoor and something for indoor. maybe both will be doing double duty indo' and outdo', we'll see.

cm

ps- toker, check your pm's
 
Last edited:

marinemansf

Member
Ok I have a real good idea of the plumbing parts ill need. The only thing is, could you take a pic of how you ran your return line out of your tent to your res pls? None of the pics show a real good shot of it.

And in regards to the lava rock, do you use red and black because you have hard/soft water, or just because they both have their benefits. Just wasnt sure if i need to a water check, and then adjust more red or more black. Or does mixing the two solve the problem without having to check water hard/softness?

Yeah I will definitely pick up a new tent and pump. My buddy warned me about getting a used pump, just didnt know if the same thing applied to a used tent as well. Although you would think you could just bleach the fuck out of the pump... either way, i dont want those problems.
 

cravin morehead

Active member
Veteran
hey marine-
getting a pic of how my main return line exits the tent is damn near impossible with the monsters growing and being tied down in there. once again, i will at chop time. just remind me again. i'll try to describe it to ya.
on my grow labs brand tent, on the back wall on the left side, there is a hole about 6" in diameter. that hole is approx. 18" off the floor. the main return line (2") goes down the center between both rows of buckets. it is elevated at its tallest height at the opening front of the tent between the buckets. as it reaches the furthest from the front buckets, it turns 90* left towards the opening in the tent on the back wall. it then 90*s right, a short straight piece exiting the tent, then 90*s left outside the back of the tent. it continues on along the wall of the room until it reaches the reservoir. there it turns 90* left, a short straight piece, then 90* turn down through the lid on my reservoir. throughout this whole run of pipe, i maintained the 1/4" per foot of fall for proper flow of the solution. in order to achieve this with the buckets being on stands and the reservoir being as tall as it is, i had to build a 8" stand for the tent to sit on. that whole part of figuring out the different dimensions, took some figuring and quite a few diagrams. but once again, planned out before building. once designed, it was easy to throw together.
hope that helps you out bud.
as for why i use red and black lava. even though i live in a major urban area, my water qualities fluctuate quite a bit. some days ppm's would be under 100, other days they would be around 200ppm's. so, i filled each net pot with either red, black, or a combo on my first experimental sized set-up. the combo color plants did better for me. so thats what i stuck with. plus i like a little extra silica in my grows. thats not to say it will work out the same for anyone else though. gotta experiment a little.
hope that helps too,

cm

thought i'd share. i'm trying to pop some seeds now. skywalker kush(bagseed from a local club, pretty good bud) and a Chimera highland mexican x blueberry. i love Chimera's gear. this one should not dissappoint
 
Last edited:
I would also clear out the bottom third of the plant.My mentor has finally convinced me that it is crucial.All the leaves in the way of budsites get plucked.Absolutely all growth on bottom 1/3 of the plant is removed 2 weeks in flower.The budsites on top will swell and yield does go up.Indoor lighting cannot penetrate the lowest sites.It MAY seem counterproductive but its not.There is alot of controversy about plucking fan leaves and LOLLIPOPPING defol etc.IMO it makes all the difference.

Just my 2 c
 

marinemansf

Member
HEY BROLOS!

Ok, I spent the weekend researching and price checking stuff. I got the tents narrowed down to two 5 x 5 tents, and was wondering which you would go with if you had to do it all over again.

http://www.greners.com/i/grow-tents/size/5-x-5/secret-jardin-dark-room-pro-dr150-ii.html

http://www.greners.com/i/grow-tents/size/5-x-5/growlab-portable-grow-rooms-gl145.html

I was also perusing your photo album and had a few questions on that as well. ( I havent figured out how to make an album yet, so I cant put the pics into the post yet. )

First pic of the bottom of the tent. Carbon filter correct? Is that its final placement? Howd you run all the connections to it?

Second of the bottom vent. Are those window blinds with wood slats glued in between? I assume you did this A: to get some extra air flow, and B: for light, correct?

Third pic of the top port. Just in general, whats going on here?

One other thing, you said your tent was 5x5 not 4x4 right?
 

Attachments

  • user91471_pic868592_1334163834.jpg
    user91471_pic868592_1334163834.jpg
    37.9 KB · Views: 15
  • user91471_pic864945_1333582002.jpg
    user91471_pic864945_1333582002.jpg
    66.7 KB · Views: 11
  • user91471_pic863606_1333382562.jpg
    user91471_pic863606_1333382562.jpg
    86.4 KB · Views: 10

cravin morehead

Active member
Veteran
hey dudes-
toker has got some good points about stripping growth below the canopy. i usually stick to that method too. my current grow is an unknown variety to me. so when i have that going on, i try to let them grow a little more naturally. just so i can see their structure. i could tell this one would stretch a bit so i tied them down like i ususally do and i kinda let them do their thing. but, i do agree as long as its done early. really helps fill up the tops.

marine- my tent is a 4'x4', growlabs. the racks that my buckets sit on are 36" wide. so i got 6" of clearance all the way around the buckets. if i did it again, i would get a 5'x5'. but, in the room its in, 4'x4' was as big as i could go. i put a 6" blockbuster hood in. that thing almost fills up the entire ceiling area of the tent. but, i run 1000w in it and can ususally keep temps within 4* over ambient. this tent is the only tent i had ever used. so i can't tell you about other brands. watch the videos on that site and figure out which one will work best for your layout and room situation. i can say that this tent has been 99% problem free. the only thing was i had to restitch a little corner on a velcro. it worked loose in like 4 months. but it was small, like 2" of sewing. other than that, no problems. i don't really even know how long its been set up, has to be a couple years or so.
first pic- wow! good eyes man. yes that is my old carbon filter. no thats not where it ended up. its up against the ceiling parrallel with the right side (as your facing it).
second pic- those are light trap vents. just gotta figure how much area of an opening you need to floe properly. they are these:
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=135524
they work great. i just painted them to stop reflection. i put little velcro sticky dots on the edges and stick filter material right to it. filtered air. this is another of what i consider to be some of the best threads on this site:
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=40637
ideas of how to diy almost anything we need.
third pic- it got real cold here for a while once, once... it was affecting my plants. so i diverted the heat exhaust to that thing to dump warm air into the room and warm it up a little. that isn't always on it. normally, all exhaust is ducted out of the window.

cm
 

marinemansf

Member
Hey playboys! Been a minute since I posted any pics, so I thought I'd do just that. Did some thinking about what you said crave, about being able to hold off on the carbon filter and I think I will. One of the pics I'm posting is of an ona gel absorber. And holy shit do those things work awesome! I placed it in the middle of my ladies, and I can't smell shit until I'm actually inside the room, and even then it isn't real noticable. I gave my ladies their weekly half turn of the lids, and WOW, just that little spin really unlocked that dank smell! I JUST WANNA SMOKE EM NOW NOW NOW! The trichromes are becoming quite noticable. And if they end up anything like the pics of the white widows online, I'm not gonna be able to see hardly any green when the finish up! The wait is killing me! But I should have some killer bubble in about a month, and smokeable buds shorty there after. God it will be nice to never have to pay for weed ever again!

Did some more research on which tent to go with, and I think I'll go with the
5 x 5 secret Jardin tent. It has the best overall score on greners.com. And eventually I think I'll get a new hood like yours crave. I just think it has a better light spread than my cool tube. And I think between that, and the new tent, my ladies will be alot more even as far as height and size on the next go around. And I'm super psyched about the thought of breeding now, being able to create my own strains and crosses with the perfect traits is gonna gonna be the shit. Now I just need the state I live in, to wake the fuck up and realize that it's just a god damn plant and legalize it!

I did some more reading on harvesting, and think because of the diference In size of my ladies, will have to harvest over a week or two, as the buds don't seem to maturing at the rate on each plant. But I am glad that I move my two main ladies to the two center buckets, directly under the light, because they have really taken off. And the 4 outside ladies are almost identical in size, so should finish about the same time.

When you start a new run, do you tend to run the same strain in all buckets? Or mix it up? My intuition says all the same, so they all finish at the same time and don't out grow one another.

Also, how long do you find it normally takes to cure correctly?
 

Attachments

  • 20140514_105942.jpg
    20140514_105942.jpg
    75.3 KB · Views: 13
  • user1346 pic12575 1228236392
    user1346 pic12575 1228236392
    139.1 KB · Views: 11
  • 20140514_110516.jpg
    20140514_110516.jpg
    64.2 KB · Views: 9
  • 20140514_110908.jpg
    20140514_110908.jpg
    65.6 KB · Views: 12
  • 20140514_110724.jpg
    20140514_110724.jpg
    45.8 KB · Views: 10

cravin morehead

Active member
Veteran
hey bro-magnon man-
your girls are looking good! i love how the trichomes look. they are looking awful happy. good job bro. now is the toughest part. patience. watch out for kidding yourself that they are done. you've made it this far, don't waste it all and chop early. as with all aspects of growing, patience is key. that secret jardin 5'x5' tent sounds great. wish i could have 5x5. as far as harvesting over a period of time, sounds good to me. i usually only have time to chop and manicure 1 plant a day. so depending on how many i'm running, it could take me days to complete. i have run multiple strains at one time in my system. however, i knew all about what those girls wanted. they all preferred much of the same feed levels and environmental factors, more or less. that is the biggest part of multi strains in one system. for example, i had a super silver sour diesel haze that didn't like any feed levels over 400ppm. that one couldn't run at the same time in the system with other feed hungry plants. so watch out for that. i would stick to one strain at a time and learn it well. then move on. i take alot of notes on each grow (i'm a stoner and have to write shit down or i'll forget it). my notes help me just look up a grow and set up just like it for a different round.
curing is a very subjective process. usually, i end up drying for around a week or so. then i'll load up one jar with bud and a hydrometer. after a few hours, like 4 or 5, i check the readings and see what the humidity level is inside the jar. i'll check it over a few hours until it remains steady. if its too wet, back out of the jar and continue drying. i do this until the humidity level is staying where i want it to be. then into the jars and monitor the humidity. i will 'burp' the jars daily for a while. then they sit and cure until i get to that jar. how long it takes is a matter of a bunch of factors. ambient humidity levels, drying temps, air flow, etc. its an art which you have to learn over time. read that link i put up, ' a perfect cure everytime' and you will be on the road to learning. there is no one answer to it. for me, on alot of strains i've grown, i like the taste around a one month cure. but, some varieties get better and better, and change flavor over time. the c99 i'm smoking on now tastes alot different than it did over a year ago.

keep patient,

cm
 

marinemansf

Member
Hey bro lo el cordero... (I love the leauge) thanks for the encouraging words! Everything is looking everyday, and I'll be patient. I know if I wait, the juice will be that much sweeter. It's just so hard not having shit to smoke, and then going downstairs, and seeing all them pretty hoes. I swear I can hear them callin my name! Lol. I did notice my best/biggest lady, and to a lesser extent, some of the smaller ladies, starting to turn a lighter shade of green. Presumably, from her putting more of her energy into trichrome/bud production, correct?

I did read that post this morning on curing. Lots of good info, but like with anything, I learn best by doing. Just a little fuzzy on the diference between curing and drying.

I also watched a few videos on making bubble hash. I feel like I understand the process pretty well now. Where did you buy you bags, what brand are they and how much did you pay for them?

One other thing. Do use rockwool or oasis cubes to start your seeds?
 
Last edited:

cravin morehead

Active member
Veteran
hey bud, i skipped out on work again today. going to go surf fishing at the beach in a few.
ok. drying is just that. drying out the buds. curing is a process that over time, breaks down chlorophyll (the green color, it tastes bad), shrinks vegetive matter, and converts terepenes and cannabinoids. good cured bud has a golden look to it. not really much of a green at all. its dry, but not too dry, and sticky. it also gets some really deep and different scents and flavors too. i've noticed the high will change a bit too. nothing drastic, maybe just a bit more dimensional.
i use bubble bag brand bags from bubbleman. its been a long time since i bought them, so idon't remember the details. i have the 5 gallon bucket size. get as many bags as you can. the more bags, the cleaner and more refined your end product will be. i've heard other brands are pretty good too. but, i've used mine for years and they are almost perfect still. i could probably pass them down to the youngsters in my family when i'm old(er).
for seed starting, i use any brand seed starting mix in a keg cup with holes in the bottom. i almost never put seedlings into my bucket system. when i pop seeds they go into soil in my mom cabinet. i grow them until they show sex, about 6-8 weeks. if they are female and look promising, i take cuts and root them in oasis cubes or ph'd rockwool. i don't use rockwool as much, i prefer oasis cubes myself. after i grow out the cuts and dry and cure a little and sample them, i determine whether or not to keep the mom plant. ALOT don't make the cut. gotta do some pheno hunting to find the special ones. just like with people, bro's and sis's from the same parents are not all the same. similar sure, but each one has different traits. that process takes time. GOOD breeders make selections of thousands of possible donors (males and females) to find ones with the traits they are looking for to breed with. i can only do it a few at a time. sometimes you flower out clones hoping for the best and it just doesn't work out that way. they may look, smell, and have all the qualities you want while growing, but in the end, they may not be what your looking for. bad flavor, bad effects, or whatever. so, if you decide to pollen chuck, just be aware of what you are creating.

cm
 
Last edited:
Top