Hi all, wanted to circle back on this now that harvest has come and gone. After posting, I cranked up the lights to 100% and dropped to 12", and the ladies loved it. No stress or damage to speak of. Flushed early in week 8, ready for harvest end of week 9, right on schedule. Chopped them down when around 15% of the trichomes were amber.
Pics from time of harvest:
The buds look tighter and have a deeper color towards the tips compared to just 1-2" lower, which seems like a clear indicator of inadequate light penetration. Lesson for next time: lower the lights and increase intensity much earlier in bloom. Likely adding another
SF1000 for better coverage.
Couldn't do anything about the temperature swings, and they still got too hot at times, but the stretch and node spacing were pretty well managed. Happy with the compactness, the indica genetics likely helped. Growing sativa next round, so I'm insulating the window next to the tent and likely flipping my light schedule (on at night, off during the day) to even out the temps.
Following that I wet trimmed, promptly overdried the harvest and lost the chance to cure (45% humidity after moving to mason jars, dried 8 days), so now I'm content trying to slowly rehydrate and age a bit to break down the chlorophyll and improve flavor. They're super sticky and still smell great (no hay, lots of fruit), so I didn't bake ALL the
terpenes off during those 85°+ moments... but the smoke is a little harsh, guessing it's chlorophyll.
I rehydrated by leaving the buds out in a big bowl when the ambient humidity is high (65-70%), in the jars they're now hovering around 57%. I have the Bodeva 62% packs in there, but they don't seem to do much.
Lesson: Dry trim next time, and buds are ready when the little BOTTOM buds easily snap off, not when the big TOP buds snap off. It's too late at that point.
Effects are delightful. Solid indica body relaxation with an uplifting euphoria throughout. The strain is high THC, feels like it lands in the 18-22% range based on the Totally Arbitrary and Subjective™ method of measuring such things. Very happy with the results, should just get better over time.
Yield was 10.2oz wet with stems, 2.25oz dried. Still aiming for 4oz from 2 plants in the same tiny space, we'll see how next time goes!