Step into my grow room

MrFlux,

the 660s you're running from satisled - are they the 1w or 3w?

caretak3r said:

the 660s you're running from satisled - are they the 1w or 3w?

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They are the 3W.

It's getting really close now. This Cinderella probably has just a few days left?





This top clone of her is coming along nicely. Was repotted today and as you can see it was about high time.

I can't believe nobody else has come to say "when can I come over and hit that?" Look at all those trichomes. Those look great, but what do I know? I do know that genetics and skills probably make a much bigger difference than CXA vs Vero or 1.5% of efficiency.

That Cindy is dank. Good job

Thanks guys. It still looks a bit early to chop, the buds are still swelling and the trichome bulbheads too.

I would like to try putting her three days into darkness before chopping. Legend has it that this increases potency and aroma and cuts the curing time.

The darkness thing supposedly comes from research at Stichting Institute of Medical Marijuana but I haven't been able to find a proper reference or the paper itself. OTOH while searching I found people asserting that it's nonsense because THC is produced during the photoperiod by a membrane between the stalk/ball of the trichome. The ball focuses the light onto the membrane... I'd love to read the research if it exists.

Basically mj plants lineage survives by producing seeds. When it sits in the dark and the light doesn't come back on. The plant knows its life is ending soon. So it tries to push out seeds to live on. Since the plant has not been pollinated the calyx swell up much more and more trichomes produce. Also light diminishes trichomes. So the trichomes redevelop while sleeping.

Both theories make sense but nobody seems to be able to cough up any science. Google Scholar turned up nothing at all.

There's an oxford study on trichome development. I might have the link bookmarked at home. On my phone now. Also I think I remeber reading about trichomes in a study about infrared lighting from Texas a&m.

I love the cab MrFlux! Plants are looking great as well, organics for the win. Cant wait to see the results of the harvest with more tasty pics.

Theoretically it makes sense that a darkness period would increase the potency and aroma, but for different reasons than legend has it.

Starch is generated and stored in chloroplasts during the day and all of it is re-mobilized as glucose and maltose at night and used for growth. The plant knows exactly how fast to use its starch reserve at night to last through exactly one predicted night length (12 hours).

This has been proven in just about every type of plant leaf with starch iodine tests, which turn black in starch. Immediately after a day period, leaves will stain black indicating high starch. Immediately after a night period, leaves will not stain.

After the plant's expected night length (12 hours), the plant goes into "starvation mode", where growth stops and respiration slows. This is where I think you'd see diminishing returns.

Anyway, the main point I'm trying to make is that a reduced mass in starch translates to higher potency, because the product is diluted with less mass in starch.

It makes it taste/smell better because uh.. stale bread smells like shit, and starch is structurally very much like cellulose (almost the same). It's chains of glucose. That means the buds don't break up as well.

MrFlux said:

Thanks guys. It still looks a bit early to chop, the buds are still swelling and the trichome bulbheads too.

I would like to try putting her three days into darkness before chopping. Legend has it that this increases potency and aroma and cuts the curing time.

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Awesome setup btw.

Lookin good Mr Flux

It does seem that the ladies are stinkier in the morning and it makes sense that terpenes recover during lights out, so at the very least it makes sense to get at last 12 hours before the chop. Although I take my time and some sit in the dark room for a week before i get to them. I trim the biggest nugs first to reduce the chance of mold.

Wonderful setup Id love to have that much growspace and distribute it this well.

Bueno Time said:

I love the cab MrFlux! Plants are looking great as well, organics for the win. Cant wait to see the results of the harvest with more tasty pics.

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Glad you like it Bueno. I love organic too, it's just so easy. Here's an experiment with an organic hempy-bottle:

Look at the algae growing at the bottom, a hydro grower would be like OMG HOW DO I KILL IT while I can just sit back, relax and leave the micro-management to all the micro-organisms. The reservoir here is too small to be of much use btw, and this bottle offers no real advantage over a regular pot.

churchhaze said:

Anyway, the main point I'm trying to make is that a reduced mass in starch translates to higher potency, because the product is diluted with less mass in starch.

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That makes sense but what I was hoping for was that the stored carbs were used to make more resin Like O&R I did the googling but found nothing conclusive. So what I did was to make a picture of the trichomes before going into the dark and then another picture after three days of darkness.

Before:


After:


Regrettably no difference in trichomes whatsoever. The aroma did change considerably, the sweet tropical fruitiness is almost gone and there is now an anise aroma that was not there before. Not really what I was going for but still very nice.

The two cindy's were pulled from the flowering room at day 58. Here are there first and final moments in the sunlight before the darkness sets


Their place is now taken by an ICE that has been vegging for three months. It was one of the original six seedlings but it could not keep up with the others. Last week it grew too big for the veg room; What I did was to start flowering it manually for five days by dragging it in front of a window at 8 am and putting it into a dark closet at 8 pm


In the flower room this former runt quickly filled up all space available to it (it's on the right):


In the middle there is another ICE going


And also a clone experiment that grows so vigorously that I could not get myself to kill it so I just put it in the flower room

The differences is probably there, you just won't see/notice it unless you get it tested. Light degrades thc content in the trichomes(in every state:clear, cloudy, amber). Amber is a state after peak production and is on there degradation side and going towards cbn. The darkness will effect the thc content even though they are not aging/ambering over those days. And they degrade faster than they get to peak so that is why minimal amber mostly cloudy is the preferred.
THC content actually fluctuates throughout the day in addition to light influences. So with a morning harvest and the prior days of darkness to keep from light degradation late in the cycle, should be slightly better if tested.


Really beautiful grow/buds. I have ran ICE and she's a great plant, you will have fun.

Flux cover bottom with black tape or something. Like that to prevent algae. Peroxideor magnets will get rid of it. Light and water make algae. Never let light shine on water.