Morning Lemon AK-47 Collaboration

THE GOOD OLD 1-2 TERPENE PUNCH By this time your plants should be kicking out some great smells. While doing work around your plants inevitably we brush against a bud or two releasing some of those luscious smelling terpenes. Terpenes are actually part of the plants natural defenses to either attract beneficial insects or repel pests or animals. For us it provides flavor and smell to our buds. Specific terpenes can actually have an effect on the type of high you will get after a smoking session. There may even be some medical benefits from using certain terpenes in treatment of many illnesses. These terpenes start to develop during your flowering stage so it’s important to perform a few smaller stresses on our plants to increase terpene production. One of those that I have covered is performing a light defoliation of the lower 25%-30% of the plant about 2 weeks into bloom. This is simulating an animal eating the lower leaves off your plants. Your plants reaction is to redirect its energy into the upper buds on your branches in order to increase terpenes so the plant will be unpalatable to some animals. Ever try chewing on a bud? See that’s the point! Next, we can cautiously use a higher stress technique of branch pinching. Creating a slight amount of damage to the inner stems of the branches. Slightly rolling a softer yet strong spot of the branch well below your buds between your thumb and index finger or middle finger slightly squeezing the branch is all it takes. You can stop right there or take this a step further by utilizing a “Half Crop” technique or so I have coined it by then slightly bending the branch over at that same point say to maybe a 30 to 45-degree angle at most. When taking the branch all the way over to the 90-degree angle this would be considered a Super Cropping technique. I feel this would create too much high stress on the plant. So once again we are basically simulating an animal bending some branches creating some damage. When using any high stress techniques, we really increase the risk of triggering yet another self-preservation reaction in the plants which is the dreaded Hermaphroditism of the flowers occurs. Auto flower plants can be a bit more sensitive than photo-periods to high stress techniques. Yes, she’s quite a lady until you find out she’s putting out bananas behind your back. It’s important to keep your eyes out for those tricky bananas which if they go unnoticed will pollinate your flowers which means seeds. Once pollinated the flowers will focus on seed development not THC and terpene production. Definitely not what we want. If you see bananas cut out all stresses on your plants try to remove the affected bud/buds as soon as possible or if it’s just one plant remove it from the rest of the grow. Now if they throw out a few bananas during the late ripening phase or end of your harvesting window I would simply harvest them as soon as possible to hinder any seed development. We know our girls put on a great show under those bright lights. Our reward is lots of trichomes baby! This is where most of the terpenes are located. Trichomes are another one of the plants natural defenses to protect itself from extreme light damage. So, creating some light stress using the ideal color spectrums during each stage of growth and bloom while gradually increasing the intensity will force the plant to grow more trichomes during the peak parts of bloom in an effort to protect the sugar leaves and flowers from too much light. Remember to achieve the proper intensity without burning your plants you may need to splurge for a PAR meter. Using this will give you some of peace of mind. If you want to kick stress levels up a notch or two try adding 3 to 4 hours a day of UVB light during the last few weeks of your grow. A study has shown that this can increase trichome growth and density. While this study never compared if UVA light has the same effect some light manufacturers are already adding UVA bulbs in their lights. https://news.californialightworks.com/uvb-light-and-thc-potency/ https://www.blackdogled.com/blogwhich-is-better-uva-or-uvb/ How about those beneficial bacteria and mycorrhizae we’ve been adding to our soil throughout the grow? Seems like Cannabis is like a fine-tuned plant which protects itself from every angle. These beneficial microbes form a very close mutual relationship with our plants root systems they both give and receive the nourishment by breaking down our nutrients and producing natural chelates and amino acids to benefit our plants. It’s usually a good idea to use some Organic Unsulfured Blackstrap Molasses to add some carbohydrates to feed the microbe herd. Some growers claim using the molasses aids in improving the smell and taste of their buds. There is even some information that using Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) can boost potency, terpenes and yield. Check it out. I’ll have to give it a try one day. https://www.royalqueenseeds.com/blog-lactic-acid-bacteria-lab-boosts-potency-terpenes-and-yield-n1153 Others swear by using commercially produced terpene enhancers. While I make no claim of being a chemist, I couldn’t help but notice most of these products typically contain Magnesium Sulfate or Potassium Sulfate and or some mystery bio magical ingredient. There are a few over my head type research journals on the internet which associate certain metals and sulfur are essential in forming some of these compounds found in terpenes. Oddly enough Blackstrap molasses has magnesium, potassium and even some sulfur in it plus many more beneficial nutrients. It’s important to note that “unsulfured” molasses does not contain the preservative “sulfur dioxide” which could damage your microbe herd. Temperature for maximizing terpene production The high temperatures from artificial light sources can damage terpenes and essential oils. This is one reason why I recommended to lower the operating temperature during the last couple of weeks of flowering (peak terpene production). Generally, the optimal operating temperature for growing cannabis is 75-80˚F. During the last couple of weeks of flowering, some growers drop the temperature range by 5-10 degrees Fahrenheit. This reduction in temperature slightly stresses the plants and increases terpene production while protecting the terpenes from being damaged by excessive heat. Just be sure the temperature doesn’t drop too low or there is not a differential of more than 10 to 15 degrees Fahrenheit from the light and dark periods. Operating temperatures below 60˚F can be counterproductive and reduce yields. Also, a large temperature differential between the light and dark periods could cause condensation and/or humidity related issues. Humidity for maximizing terpene production Ideally, the humidity level in a cannabis flowering room would fall between 50-60 percent during bloom. However, during the last few weeks of flowering, the humidity level can be dropped to around 30 percent to slightly stress the plants. This usually requires a dehumidifier. The lower humidity lightly stresses the plants which, in turn, increases terpene production. Lower humidity during the last weeks of flowering also reduces the likelihood of molds and other humidity-related problems. Drought stress is the last trick up our sleeve to fake out the plant into thinking it’s going to die. This needs to be done very carefully. Last three weeks before harvest try to allow your plants to get a bit drier before the next watering. Not to the point where the leaves wilt from extreme lack of water but just let your pots get a bit lighter in weight. This can be dangerous if you have a high nutrient salt build up in your pots. Letting them dry out can increase the salinity in your pots and cause nutrient burn. Always monitor your runoff ppm’s when watering and feeding. You can continue this wet then dry type watering cycle after you flush your plants right up until harvest. Also, excess nutrients can hinder terpene development so don’t over feed your plants and flush 2 weeks before harvest. Bring on the dank buddy goodness! WEEK 8 UPDATE They were given their last feeding a few days before the end of the week. Buds are smelling incredible with a nice heavy ripe citrus overtone filling my tent over powering the FB Blackberry Kush's berry/earthy smell. I even catch a nice whiff when I'm outside near my vent even though I'm using a carbon filter on my exhaust. I'm very impressed with this strains perfect size for using 3 gallon pots, shape, overall uniformity and the ease of lst training of the plants and buds. Bud development is nice with a low leaf to high dense calyx ratio just the way it should be. As the pistils are drying and curling the calyx are starting to show signs of swelling up. Trichome color is some clear with mostly cloudy/milky with sporadic ambers showing up mostly on the small sugar leaves. Guesstimating 10-14 days for flushing then harvest. Looking to use this as a day time smoke so I will try to take them when the main cola shows 15+% amber trichomes this should give me a nice mixture of ripening stages to sample from the lower buds. Grow tent conditions are the same as week 6.