First Grow Harvest Report – 18 Days After Chop (A Lot Learned)
I've been really busy lately and haven't had time to post a harvest update, but it's been about 18 days since I chopped my first grow.
Overall, I'm happy because I actually made it from seed to harvest without killing the plants. Considering this was my very first grow, I think that's an accomplishment in itself. That said, I know I have a lot of room to improve.
One of my biggest mistakes was starting with regular seeds. Since I had to identify the males before removing them, I couldn't begin proper LST and weaving the plants into my SCROG net as early as I wanted. By the time I knew which plants were female, I'd already lost valuable training time. I think that really hurt my canopy and ultimately my yield.
The buds actually look great in the jars. They have good bag appeal, nice frost, and the aroma is surprisingly good when I open a jar.
Unfortunately, the smoke doesn't match how they look.
The flower is fairly harsh and the flavor reminds me of old-school grassy outdoor weed. It's definitely smokable, but it's nowhere near the quality I was hoping for after months of work.
After thinking about everything, I believe the biggest issue was my drying process.
Life got hectic during harvest, and one day I accidentally let the drying room humidity drop way too low while the temperature spiked higher than it should have. On top of that, my circulation fans gradually ended up blowing more directly on the hanging plants than I realized. I think I over-dried the buds, and I'm convinced that hurt both the flavor and smoothness.
It was my mistake, and it's a lesson I'll definitely remember on future grows.
I'm trying not to beat myself up over it. Every grower makes mistakes, especially on their first run, and I'd rather learn from them than get discouraged.
For my next grow, my plan is:
- Run feminized seeds or clones so I can start training immediately.
- Start LST much earlier.
- Fill the SCROG net before flipping to flower.
- Monitor my drying room much more closely.
- Keep temperature and humidity stable throughout the entire dry.
- Make sure no fans are blowing directly on the hanging plants.
Even though I'm disappointed with the final smoke, I still consider this first grow a success. I harvested my own flower, learned a tremendous amount, and now I have a much better understanding of where I need to improve.
Hopefully Grow #2 is where everything starts coming together.
I'd love to hear from more experienced growers—what was the biggest lesson you learned after your first harvest, and what made the biggest difference in the quality of your second grow?
Thanks to everyone here who answered my questions throughout this grow. I really appreciate all the help.