New Grower - 1st Indoor Grow Questions

Cali Cajun

Well-Known Member
Man, I just can't take a good picture on the iPhone with any of the loupes over 10x - the focus is always wrong and not on what I'm trying to photograph. GroEr, I was wrong - my wife and I are old enough that we have an SLR, not a DSLR - I didn't even realize we still had a camera that takes film!!

Even though I didn't get any good pics, I looked at a sampling of the top buds this morning and they're looking mostly cloudy and definitely have some amber in there as well. It's been 60 days since flip (previously been counting from when I first saw buds), which is nearly to the end of the 7 - 9 week flowering window for GG#4 - I think I'm going to start harvesting a few select branches today or tomorrow and go from there. If I'm selectively taking off just the top branches from the plants, should I try to level out the canopy and drop the lights down to maintain an 18" height and try to ripen up some of the lower buds?
 

GroErr

Well-Known Member
Man, I just can't take a good picture on the iPhone with any of the loupes over 10x - the focus is always wrong and not on what I'm trying to photograph. GroEr, I was wrong - my wife and I are old enough that we have an SLR, not a DSLR - I didn't even realize we still had a camera that takes film!!

Even though I didn't get any good pics, I looked at a sampling of the top buds this morning and they're looking mostly cloudy and definitely have some amber in there as well. It's been 60 days since flip (previously been counting from when I first saw buds), which is nearly to the end of the 7 - 9 week flowering window for GG#4 - I think I'm going to start harvesting a few select branches today or tomorrow and go from there. If I'm selectively taking off just the top branches from the plants, should I try to level out the canopy and drop the lights down to maintain an 18" height and try to ripen up some of the lower buds?
Lol, that's an oldie camera for sure, don't think I have any of those left around, had multiple models over the years though.

If it's not a huge hassle adjusting the height it might be worthwhile as they're already a little high up at 18".
 

Cali Cajun

Well-Known Member
Lol, that's an oldie camera for sure, don't think I have any of those left around, had multiple models over the years though.

If it's not a huge hassle adjusting the height it might be worthwhile as they're already a little high up at 18".
It's pretty easy to adjust the height. Interesting - you think 18" is high for a full-spectrum LED (HLG)? That's the height the seller recommended. You grow LEDs as well, right? What height range do you suggest?
 

BudmanTX

Well-Known Member
Man, I just can't take a good picture on the iPhone with any of the loupes over 10x - the focus is always wrong and not on what I'm trying to photograph. GroEr, I was wrong - my wife and I are old enough that we have an SLR, not a DSLR - I didn't even realize we still had a camera that takes film!!

Even though I didn't get any good pics, I looked at a sampling of the top buds this morning and they're looking mostly cloudy and definitely have some amber in there as well. It's been 60 days since flip (previously been counting from when I first saw buds), which is nearly to the end of the 7 - 9 week flowering window for GG#4 - I think I'm going to start harvesting a few select branches today or tomorrow and go from there. If I'm selectively taking off just the top branches from the plants, should I try to level out the canopy and drop the lights down to maintain an 18" height and try to ripen up some of the lower buds?
it's take time to get used to it

while your doing your rotational, keep trying till you get it.....

you'll get there......GL

let us know
 

Cali Cajun

Well-Known Member
Ya - I'll keep trying! It doesn't help that I've got old eyes - I went to progressive lenses on my glasses a couple of years ago, and it's a bitch trying to keep things in my visual "sweet spot" while trying to focus the damn camera.
 

Cali Cajun

Well-Known Member
Sorry for the poor image quality - I tried again with the USB microscope attached to the tripod. The stand that came with the microscope isn't too secure, so after getting good focus the stand unfortunately moves as I'm taking the picture. But sort of gives an idea and shows a smattering of amber trichomes on the buds.
 

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BudmanTX

Well-Known Member
not bad......

i see alot of cloudy, little clear (which is not a bad thing), in the second pic you can get a hint of amber....just can't be sure though....

think you need to have a smoke to calm those nerves....:P(:
 

GroErr

Well-Known Member
It's pretty easy to adjust the height. Interesting - you think 18" is high for a full-spectrum LED (HLG)? That's the height the seller recommended. You grow LEDs as well, right? What height range do you suggest?
That does seem a little high for diode-based lighting. I run my COBs at 14"-16" once they finish the stretch. Based on the tech on the HLG's and previous experience with the older 3w diode panels I'm guessing I'd be running the HLG's at around 12"-14". However coverage is a combination of height above the canopy and the source light, getting too close your lose overall coverage so that has to be accounted for depending on the spread of the source lighting. The buds look great so 18" obviously works ;)
 

Cali Cajun

Well-Known Member
Maybe I'll try to get them a bit closer next time, although as you say maybe the coverage would fall off at the edges.

I decided to start taking a few of the tops off this afternoon - I only spent a couple of hours and didn't get very far. I've temporarily got them hanging in a storage area off the garage - temp is about 75 degrees and RH 50%. I've got a 2' high tower oscillating fan on the floor blowing below where the trimmed buds are hanging. Do I need to point the fan at the buds, or is having moving air directly below them sufficient? Once I've finished trimming the rest of the plants I'll move them back into the flower tent to finish drying.

I've got a little .25 gram ball of really nice smelling finger hash from cleaning the scissors - looking forward to tasting it later tonight!
 

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GroErr

Well-Known Member
Maybe I'll try to get them a bit closer next time, although as you say maybe the coverage would fall off at the edges.

I decided to start taking a few of the tops off this afternoon - I only spent a couple of hours and didn't get very far. I've temporarily got them hanging in a storage area off the garage - temp is about 75 degrees and RH 50%. I've got a 2' high tower oscillating fan on the floor blowing below where the trimmed buds are hanging. Do I need to point the fan at the buds, or is having moving air directly below them sufficient? Once I've finished trimming the rest of the plants I'll move them back into the flower tent to finish drying.

I've got a little .25 gram ball of really nice smelling finger hash from cleaning the scissors - looking forward to tasting it later tonight!
Nice, looking pretty ready so staggering the chop is a good option. Enjoy the finger hash, one of my favourite bonuses from trimming :)

If you can get the drying room temps down a bit, and RH a little higher, it will extend your dry a bit and maintain better smells/flavours. If not, just watch they don't get too dry before you put them into curing You should never point the fan directly at them, they'll dry way too fast and you'll lose a lot of the flavour/smell profile. All you need is for the air in the room to be moving a bit, definitely not directly hitting the plants.
 

Cali Cajun

Well-Known Member
Nice, looking pretty ready so staggering the chop is a good option. Enjoy the finger hash, one of my favourite bonuses from trimming :)

If you can get the drying room temps down a bit, and RH a little higher, it will extend your dry a bit and maintain better smells/flavours. If not, just watch they don't get too dry before you put them into curing You should never point the fan directly at them, they'll dry way too fast and you'll lose a lot of the flavour/smell profile. All you need is for the air in the room to be moving a bit, definitely not directly hitting the plants.
The finger hash was much better than I expected - very tasty and a nice mix of head and body high. If the buds are similar, I'll be very pleased.

I'll see if the wife will let me dry in a closet in the house for a week - much easier to control the temp in the house; the garage and storage area don't benefit from the house AC. What temp and RH should I shoot for?
 

Cali Cajun

Well-Known Member
OK; I've moved the buds into a closet where I have better control over the temperature - it's 68 degrees F and RH of 56%. It is very very stinky - do I need to worry about the stank getting on clothing in that closet?
 

GroErr

Well-Known Member
OK; I've moved the buds into a closet where I have better control over the temperature - it's 68 degrees F and RH of 56%. It is very very stinky - do I need to worry about the stank getting on clothing in that closet?
Oh yeah, those clothes will need a wash I'd think, first couple of days is pretty strong and it tends to stick to things like clothing.
 

Cali Cajun

Well-Known Member
Yeah, so I pick the closet with all my work clothes / dress shirts. Nice! :oops: At least none of my wife's things are in this closet.

I've removed the top-most / ripest buds from all the plants and am going to give the bottom ones a week or two to ripen up a bit. Now it's time to wash my clothes, apparently...
 

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GroErr

Well-Known Member
Yeah, so I pick the closet with all my work clothes / dress shirts. Nice! :oops: At least none of my wife's things are in this closet.

I've removed the top-most / ripest buds from all the plants and am going to give the bottom ones a week or two to ripen up a bit. Now it's time to wash my clothes, apparently...
Looking good, nice harvest and some late cropping so you can see what you prefer smoke wise. Going to cost you some extra electricity or gas for your washer/dryer, but buds will be nice :)

I don't know that there's a perfect temp/RH for drying. I've tried a few things and I go in a room that stays 68-72F normally, this time of year it can get a little higher, up to 75F. On RH I keep it around 62-65% pretty consistently, it takes longer to dry so I can de-bud when I have the time. That range and slow drying before a good cure tends to keep the terpenes nice and loud. I run a lot of strains and they all do well including sats, indicas, and many hybrids.
 

Cali Cajun

Well-Known Member
Thanks GroEr - RH looks like it's sticking right at 55%; maybe I'll put my wife's aromatherapy mister in there filled just with water to try and raise it another few percentages. I turned off the fan - between the higher first day temp and the fan it seemed as if the smaller buds from the first day of harvesting were drying out too fast.
 

GroErr

Well-Known Member
Thanks GroEr - RH looks like it's sticking right at 55%; maybe I'll put my wife's aromatherapy mister in there filled just with water to try and raise it another few percentages. I turned off the fan - between the higher first day temp and the fan it seemed as if the smaller buds from the first day of harvesting were drying out too fast.
Yeah a little higher will stretch out the drying a bit, won't hurt. Pretty well anything will work to raise the RH, sometimes I use the pot/soil I cut the plants from to raise it a bit, just water the pot and it'll hold moisture and increase RH.
 
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