First post on this forum, although I have had a couple in the ‘grow room’. Background: first grow, ILGM WW auto, planted on Apr 1st, plant went like gangbusters, now 47" high and heavy with colas.
Now: Not bad for 1st grow I guess, but now I am 12 wks into it and although my trichs are cloudy to milky, little or no amber is present. hairs are brown/red, though with significant white as well. I am using a small grow space w HPS. Rain water, FF Ocean Forest, the ‘big three’ from FF as well. Fan leaves are turning, but no amber trichs…
Going by the ILGM guides, this should be a few days or a week max from harvest, but I want to maximize benefits so I am reticent to pull it arbitrarily without the telltale signs of amberness.
Last night, I accidently broke a bottom stem/branch w two small nugs. Both immature looking, both white hairs. Baked it up at 180F, slowly, then chopped and tried it out. Very mild smoke but good potency, esp for immature buds. (been flushing for 7 days). Hmmmm. Leads me to think maybe I won’t get amber for this one? Total time in ground is 82 days, total flowering is about 50-55 days (I guess… to be honest, I am not sure when ‘flowering’ actually starts…).
Question: What to do? Go strictly by trich color and risk over-growing the plant? Do another 2 weeks hoping for amber? Buy a UV light? There’s all kinds of info on the web - much of it dubious - so, since this has been a reliable source so far, any thoughts?
you may want to check in with Yoshi , a Bergmans lab member, he answered a similar question for someone with the exact dilemma , auto ak-47, he had some solid explanation, and the fact that your"re growing indoors
It’s all up to you, but what I would do is;
Check her trichs every day. Wait until I saw amber, then give her 36 hours of darkness. Then chopped and hung. When they say 80 days from seed to harvest, that’s just an average. Different pheno types can take longer or shorter, depending on each plant. Hope this helps.
Thanks for the replies and the welcome. Okay, that sounds good, I’ll keep the same routine for now. I’m not looking for extreme amber coverage, just enough to trigger harvest actions. Tomorrow marks exactly 84 days from seed planting, so another week or two is easily managed. Maybe I’ll add another couple of feedings of bloom nutes and plan to flush for another week or two - that’ll bring me up to 13-14 weeks, just about 70 (?) days of flowering.
It’s not drinking as much water these days, and some leaves are drying out up top now. Since end of week seven I’m running 12/12 HPS. Brought it inside two weeks ago due to heat. Even now, temps are getting up to just under 80F during light cycle. Fan leaves are yellowing at about 3-4 daily. I think my mistake - if there was one - was to go by calendar more than observation for this one, maybe I will look for a touch of amber before initial flushing next time.
Like I said, there’s a bunch of advice out there - everything from ice water flushes to black lights to whatever - I figure on keeping a traditional approach to fruition. So far that has been the best for me.
All that having been said, I am very pleased so far with the outcome and (potential) yield. She’s healthy everywhere, even the lower and sides are very healthy. Very impressed with the ILGM product as well as the info here. Interesting how well these little guys do when you pay attention…
Thanks again for the responses, I’ll wait another week or two.
Yeah, pics. Most recent. I had to move to a bigger box at 6 wks, the daggum thing way exceeded expected size and was getting too hot in the little original box… At this point, it’s about 47" tall w/urn, 38" from top of dirt. Bunches of colas. Traditional Xmas tree. So now It’s inside, awaiting final push.
Sorry for teh quality, but you get the idea - it was moved AGAIN at 10 wks to a closet inside the house, for climate control reasons (it is HOT right now).
Right now in a holding pattern, awaiting a slight color change. As I said, the little broken nug I cooked and tried out was good - very relaxing, stimulating, and makes my bad knee feel better… (I am not a fan of ‘slouchlock’, so I really don’t wanna cross that threshold).
My 2 WW autos fromILGM are looking very much like the pics. I checked trichs yesterday and they were still clear. Fan leaf yellowing up top now. Should I start to think about a flush now? Today is nute day(once every week since start of grow), or hold off? I’m getting nervous now!! LOL. This is the home stretch, and I don’t want to blow it!
I’m in the same situation. Popped seed on April first. Auto northern lights. Lot of white hairs left to turn red and have seen only two red trichs. Holding off as long as I can but will definately chop before all hairs turn. Am wondering if I should chop the main stalks and leave the bottom little buds to grow more or just hash or make butter with the little buds
