Qrazy Train & Cotton Candy

Yum! Getting ready to taper back to 20% strength on my last mix change tomorrow. I will sort of flush with about 5% bloom solution the last 2 days. I've found that if you flush out the plants completely with water alone, in fact they don't quite cure and burn or taste as good. While a fresh weak bloom mix to finish 'em up works better when you're goin' for near-perfection. I've heard Earth Juice's Bio catalyst that also contains blackstrap molases works well too. Will have to give it a try next go 'round. More furry shots from just minutes ago:

 

This is some of what we sampled from a side branch the other day. It was taken in natural daylight to pick up the beautiful deep purple hue that's beginning to show up on a lot of the tiny trich coated leaves that accompany the buds. In hindsight I likely could have rendered better results on something like a white pillow case background than on a plain, brown paper bag.

 

Down to 5 days left. They're subtly different in ways that these pics I just took don't really show. The odor's changed to a musky/sweet that has a deeper pungency:

 

This is absolutely the most beautifully colorful bud I've ever grown. Took this little nug off earlier today to monitor progress. It doesn't really show in the pic but there's a full range from deep red to purple on the tiny leaves and streaks of the combined colors on some of the brachs. Unreal!

 

Thanx! It has been decent when we've sampled. But with the exception of the nug in the last pic, it's mostly lacked the more intense, 'second gear' punch of mature bud.

As long as you keep your nightime temps low (about 60, but no more than 65 deg) thru those last few weeks as they finish up, the QT can be expected to turn varying degrees of purple that usually shows in dark streaks on the tiny trich coated leaves or the deep hues at the edges on the underside of the leaves. Makes for a very classy bag appeal effect. BTW, the taste is to die for. I'm not picking up what I'd call a grapey or fuel-like taste. Just very sweet- delicious! I'm a stickler for taste and mini-flush in planning my sampling pattern. I hate harsh fert tasting bud.

 

A major reason I sample was reinforced today and reminds me of the even subconscious related causes so many crop their buds a little too early and don't even know it. By measure of most appearances this QT looks ripe enough and many would say, "Chop, chop!" here at just about 8 wks, as the strain lists. Pressure from others and that hunger to harvest push the idea that they're good to go already. But sure enough, once the sample bud is dry enough to determine it's clear that it closely matches a lot of the stuff we've bought that I complain about all the time because obviously (to me alone it seemed too often) the crop was picked a little early (5-6 days). We get far too much of it floating around in the Seattle/Tacoma, Wa. area. And it passes off in the market with too few who seem to know any better or could care less. The clue is it just doesn't have a full or intense enough 'high', within a particular strain. It gets you relatively numb or buzzed, but you're not really 'high', per-se. I say relatively because only after you've smoked fully mature bud (from any strain) will you come to recognize that the other stuff is more often less potent only because it's slightly immature, than it relating to a genetic issue as it seemed before. The important point to remember is many simply don't know their bud could be way better if they waited another week or so because they've never witnessed it. Waiting is so important in part as well because of the way a dramatic ripening change occurs in a very short period of usually 2-3 days relative to the gradual and long process over the weeks prior. And leaving just a very short window of a day or two to harvest at peak perfection. Consider that Sativas tend to be 'stretched out' longer over this period of finishing proportionate to their extended flowering period overall that can impact these numbers with certain hybrids.

 

Beyond first glance it's evident by the condition of the trichs that they're finally finishing up and I'll harvest in a day or two. As some mention, the seed banks seem to invariably list the strain finishing times off by about a week or more. And this QT seems to prove out the rumor. Perhaps under ideal conditions, or purely for marketing purposes? I'm still just learning this seed bank thing relative to my grow experience.




(this bud and a couple others look even more like a piece of sugar coated candy than this looks here)





The next set of 4 (accidently wound up with a month gap in my perp setup too) is already showing signs of the onset of blooming. BTW: Due to having only 18 gallons of mix to work with from the reservoir, I have to monitor it closely and continue to add about a gallon of fresh PH adjusted water per day to compensate for osmosis/evaporation rates with that high square inchage leaf surface area ratio factor, or EC levels get out of hand too quickly.

 

They're sooo booteeful. Something for a High Times pix of the month submittal. I chopped most of 'em, but left 2 plants just in case they need a few more days. When you're dialing in a strain to perfection the only way to find out what you've got is by trial and error to tune in on the exact peak THC levels.


Edit: Had trouble with the upload

 

Yeah, this QT is slower than I expected as it's finishing up. What I've grown in the past tends to reach a point gradually then finish up quickly, often in just a day or two and it's obvious they smell ripe where they didn't just days b4, if you're watchin' 'em close. But these had been draggin' on relative to how close they looked, and now some of the smaller bud that got cut yesterday that have already begun to dry enuf to show that they should've still gone a few more days.-? Luckily I left the two insurance plants and they'll likely be going at least another 3 days b4 I even think about it. I didn't really stress the plants intentionally, per-se. And thought my room probably stayed slightly too warm at night to get any purple to show up. But I had read too that it's not uncommon to have the QT show up with some purple anyway, like your raspberry kush does, as they finish up even if your room doesn't get very cool at night. And particularly if you chose a Querkle-dom pheno as a parent.

Have to admit I was a little disappointed with the yield. Clearly some of this would be attributable to imperfect conditions as I was getting the room set up, a little too much heat in there this summer and the plants had some minor nute issues early on in flowering, and some is due to not having learned the strain/pheno down to a 'T'. But even taking this all into account, the buds never did stretch out at all in that typical pattern after the initial few weeks of flowering. But just gradually grew and swelled, remaining one relatively small bud instead of stretching into at least small colas. Don't get me wrong. They were decent sized relative to how big the plants got. The plants just got hardly any bigger overall to support bigger buds anyway once they started blooming. Slightly stunted, to put it briefly. The next set are far larger and healthier right off the bat and looks promising. We'll see if these stretch at all and how they turn out. Over 25+ years and many different crops, with a diverse range of varieties and never once have I seen a cannabis plant that didn't stretch and fill at least some early on in the flowering pattern.

Edit: Looking at the vid it looks like they've still got a bit to go by the way mine went. Though there's some similarities, they look quite a bit different than mine. Glad mine have a much better flower to leaf ratio. Trimming is a breeze. Cut the few single fan leaves at each bud cluster, one or two mids near the base of the cluster, then just a super quick trim of a couple tiny leaf tips (only because I prefer well manicured bud) and I'm done. I fit all my toss away leaf trim, branches and root balls from (5) 2 ft plants in a small (10 gal) plastic garbage bag with room to easily hold 2-3 times that much. Even the keeper leaf trim doesn't amount to enuf to bother making hash from it. Thanks for the vid, BTW.

 

The remaining buds look ready by most all appearances. Many pistils have fallen off or receded back into the bud. Milky/amber trichs, and the whole bit. But looking more closely at what I cut yesterday, there's little doubt to me they still have a few days to go. I look for the trichs to remain to seem like a covering of crystaline coarse velvet when the buds dry. But these trichs clearly are beginning to shrink a little too much as the buds I cut yesterday start to dry out some. The difference is slight. But I'm really picky about shooting for absolute perfection.

 

Well, after missing a month's cycle I'm finally back in perpetual mode. The next set of (8) are right on schedule in the veg unit, along with the following set of rooted clones behind them. "Mamma Mia!" Lol. Houston, we have a problem. I knew this pheno grows fast, but this parent is pushing the limits of it's home and getting burnt leaves from the CFLs. I didn't wan't to cut-back those next gnarly-ass (8) hittin' or past the lights. While the next huge (4) in the earlier pics, now in mid-bloom are coming along nicely.

 

Lol! I hate that when that happens too. Actually due to being originally intended for a regular SOG setup w/(6), instead of (4) slots per root tub, what these pics I just took show is basically just a modified mutant-SOG test run for the time being. As others that have grown it say, this QT just insists on sprawling-out like qrazy regardless. Some beautiful plants, none the less.