It's the most wonderful time of the year. Hahahaha! I hope you enjoy this little tune written by Edward Pola and George Wyle and performed by Andy Williams for his debut Christmas album in 1963.
(This was posted by YouTuber; Claudette Colbert60 on Dec. 21, 2007)
I know it's August and this is just sick. I couldn't help but hum this song as I harvested the two remaining plants, trimmed them of their big leaves and hung them out to dry.
Hahaha! It was the most wonderful time, because even though my fingers were sticky and that's not a sensation that I particularly enjoy especially as a massage therapist, the smell was fantastic!
(Something tells me that I am going to learn to love having sticky fingers.,,eventually.)
The Aromas That I Could Identify As They Wafted From These Plants Were:
- Grapefruit
- Pine
- Menthol
- Blueberry
- and Pepper
This is one plant. It was bent over when it was just a little girl and we were able to lollipop it and train it to grow like a big bush. We were able to get 34 individual stems, all containing multiple buds, this way from the 2 plants in total.
Here's her room-mate before she was harvested.
It's a swirl of purple and green colouration. The purple wasn't that visible until the last week or so, but now you can really see it. Along with a multitude of loaded trichomes. We weren't able to discern any amber colouration in the trichomes, but made the decision to harvest, based on it being week #13 (in flower) and leaves that were starting to wilt naturally. For the last 3 weeks, the plants had been dropped down to 8 hours of light and 16 hours of total darkness.
It's hard to believe that this transformation has occurred and I am thankful that I recorded the progression as each week passed.
Here's the size of the main stock (to give you a sense for how big these bushes were) for our first in-door grow. I now understand why people prefer to grow hydroponically inside. It saves a lot of space and I think that it ultimately lets you grow more plants per square foot of dedicated gardening space.
The Stocks Were Cut
Once we got the stocks cut, we stripped them of their big leaves and left the sugar leaves. These (the sugar leaves or the leaves closest to the buds) will be trimmed in a few weeks, once the branches have a chance to dry. (This is where the name "trim" comes from. Sometimes you'll have the opportunity to buy trim from a Dispensary or Licensed Producer. Usually this plant material is half the cost of the whole buds and still contains trichomes that are loaded with medicinal cannabinoids. I plan on using my trim to make a coconut oil infusion that will be eaten, eventually.)
Let the Drying Begin!
We've been flushing these plants since week #10 and (now as of this afternoon) have them all hanging in our grow room, in the dark, with a dehumidifier running. When we put the dehumidifier in place, the relative humidity was 70% and in the span of a few hours had dropped to 47%. We've adjusted this again, with the goal of drying in a humidity range of 50-55% for the next few weeks.
Here's What I Have Learned And Will Do Differently With My Next Garden:
- I plan to use smaller pots and I'm going to set my light a little higher to get more length in the stock before I bend it.
- Once I get the plant bent, I'm going to try to keep the head of the plant lower than I did with my first grow to force more lollipopping of stems up from the main stock.
- I plan to get better at forcing more branches by pinching off single branches at their nodes, doubling with each pinch as the plant grows.
- I plan to keep my light height set lower in the vegetative growth state so that the space between my buds are a lot shorter.
- I will watch for magnesium deficiency and try harder not to burn my leaves with fertilizer.
- I will do better at removing any male plants before they have a chance to fertilize my females (now that I know what they look like and how they behave).
- Lastly, I'm going to look for gently used hydroponic equipment and add some additional LED lights around the periphery of my grow room so that I can benefit from more light reaching the sides of my plants.
This growing business is intricate but I have to admit that it is incredibly satisfying to witness the changes from one week to the next.
I welcome your comments and I invite you to follow me on my journey...of course with some potent vapour and some good quality essential oil of cannabis along the way... if you're down for that. ;)
~ Rebecca Ryan