RicinBeans's first-time indoor grow - "Cement Shoes"

[ComfortablyNumb]

Once you get enough light in there of the full spectrum, then they will have what they need to photosynthesize at a greater speed.

 

[shaganja]

Do you have a yard or outdoor space you can build in? You can grow nearly all year long.

How to Build an Earth-Sheltered Greenhouse – Mother Earth News

Follow these step-by-step instructions to build an earth-sheltered greenhouse that uses passive solar gain.

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I have two plants growing right now. Am covered in snow. Check out "no till regenerative" thread. I built a 30x16 underground greenhouse.

 

[RicinBeans]

I figured this is good a time as any to post an update. 12/8 is the first day, after a slow transition, that they experienced a full 12/12 light cycle., so they've been in flowering for just over 3 weeks. I was honestly was hoping for more rapid growth than this, but at least they seem to be healthy and growing steadily.

I've been feeding nutrients to #1 - the first nutrients I've given either of the plants in this grow, as the early weeks didn't allow for me to water the plants frequently enough that I was comfortable feeding them nutrients and having enough time to flush them should I want to transition at some point when their weeks-long drying cycles weren't up. I can't say whether it's making a difference or not. I decided to forego feeding #2, as it's already a little too tall for comfort. It's the price I pay for trying to let #1 catch up as long as I did - the flipside being that #1's bud count is looking very promising.

There isn't a whole lot else to report at this point, which is probably a good thing. I'm just letting the buds grow, and I've got a magnifying lens waiting in the wings for when its time to start determining when they're ready to be cut down. Fingers crossed!

 

[RicinBeans]

It's been a little over 3 weeks so I figured I'd show the flowering progress.

I've been sort of alarmed by how many leaves on #2 have become spotty and eventually died since the flowering process began. It happened before and after I started putting nutrients in the water (I held off at first because I was afraid of #2 outgrowing the tent - I've been giving them to #1 through the flowering process, with the exception of flush days), so I couldn't really figure much else out to do about it. I stopped sweating it though, as bud production looks about on par with #1.

# 1 has been solid as a rock. Not a single dead leaf, nor have there been any other complications or causes for alarm.

I feel like these buds are maybe a little small? It's been about 6.5 weeks though, so maybe there is more substantial growth to come. Still though, the branches are pretty robust with bud growth, even if the tops aren't as large as I imagined.

The video honestly doesn't do the buds justice. They were making the branches of #2 quite heavy, causing me to put the netting up - otherwise they'd be leaning almost horizontally right now. And THE SMELL! It's quite potent, and almost has what I'd call a minty tinge to it. I can't lie, I'm getting pretty psyched to harvest them.

 

[RicinBeans]

The trichome situation hadn't advanced at all in recent weeks - they had been looking mostly if not completely white, and while I wanted to get a hint of amber before cutting them down, it seemed like the flowering cycle was going on way too long, and I wasn't sure there was any more physical growth of the buds. I decided that they would come down on flowering day 70, amber trichomes or not. Here is the most recent video I took before cutting them down, recorded on 2/7:

Here are some photos I took, both straight from the camera and with the jeweler's lens held up to the camera to try to make the trichomes visible, between 2/2 and 2/8:

I stuck to the plan and took them down last night, which was around day 70. Here is a photo of all the cut-down branches - #1 on the bottom, #2 on the top:

I thought this was going to just take a couple of hours to trim. It ended up being like 8-9 effing hours in the end! I'm never going to start that process in the evening again - lesson learned. Also, I should probably not spend so much time on those lower, spindlier buds that are hard to cut up. I think it took a lot more time than it needed to.

Here is some vid of the larger branches from #2 after being trimmed and hung:

Here are the remainder of #2's branches after bring trimmed:

And here is #1 after being cut down & trimmed:

The store closed on me last night before I could get more clips for hanging, so I put up what I could last night and did the rest tonight. There is a screen coming in the mail for the loose buds, which are just sitting in a box in the tent at the moment. There aren't all that many of them.

So I'm in the final stretch! They seem to have dried a little too much over just one day, and the humidity was pretty low (about 30%) when I checked on them, so I'll be using my mini humidifier for a bit to see if that slows things down. Otherwise, if everything continues drying at this rate, I may find the branches ready to snap tomorrow. Both fans are off, and the tent's outtake is going on for five minutes every 20 minutes, as usual, with the intake off, so the only air movement is from the negative pressure, and indirect.

And that's where I stand. I'm picking up a couple of large, airtight jars tomorrow, and my hygrometers should arrive the day after that, so I'll be ready for the curing process.

 

[RicinBeans]

Pardon the double-post, just took a video of the tent with everything (but the loose buds) hanging and figured I'd share it so as to give a more even picture of the yield-in-progress. Hopefully having that little humidifier running will slow the drying process a little bit. It's tiny though, so I'll have to be sure to stay on top of it and fill it a couple of times a day.

Anyway, I'm totally psyched, and at risk of speaking to soon while I suppose it's still possible something could go awry, I just want to say thanks to anyone who offered advice (mainly @ComfortablyNumb haha) throughout this drawn-out process. I hope to be able to bring that to bear on my next grow and make it a much smoother experience.

Next up, I plan to try to do a SOG grow: 8 plants, no topping or fimming, with a target of ten weeks until harvest. My friend is working on getting me some seeds right now, and I'll prob be starting the grow one I throw the current harvest into jars for curing. I'd like to compare what that yields to what this current crop yielded, and figure out what my go-to approach is going to be going forward.

 

[ComfortablyNumb]

Lots of flavor hanging there. Well done! You did it!

 

[RicinBeans]

Depending on when you start the clock (when I cut them down or 9 hours later, when I was done trimming and had most of the branches either hanging or laying down to dry), it took just over 4 days or a little more than 3.5 days. A little quicker than I had hoped. I have a tiny humidifier for the tent, and probably could have prolonged the process if I were a little more diligent about refilling it with water.

It is what is is though, and at the end of everything, it looks like I made out with 137g total between the two plants - this after however removing many grams from the loose buds (pictured in a box inside of the tent in the last video I posted) that I've been sampling throughout the last few days. 82g of that is represented by plant #2 (the taller one on the right side of the tent), with the remaining 55g belonging to #1. Here is the final product, pictured beside a AA battery so as to provide a sense of the size of the two 0.5 gallon containers that I'll be using for the curing process.

And aside from the curing, that's all, folks lol. As I mentioned in the last paragraph, I've been sampling from the loose buds over the past couple of days, and I have to say that it's most potent and pleasant, both in terms of taste and smoothness, despite the quick drying process and despite the samples having not been cured yet. My understanding is that it will only get better after a couple of weeks of burping, which I'm looking forward to very much.

Thanks again to anyone who read the thread, and especially to anyone who offered any comment or advice - particularly, again, @ComfortablyNumb . Your help was most valuable, and helped make this learning experience as fruitful as possible - no pun intended.

Next up will be my SOG grow. I'm till trying to determine exactly how many plants will go in the tent - a decision that will be determined in-part by whether I want to wait a little while so as time time the grow in such a way that I can put a portion of it outdoors when spring begins. I'll be sure to start a new diary for that process, and I'll post in here to link it when that begins.

Thanks again! Time to enjoy the results now!