Mango Smile, day 1

FirstCavApache64 said:

Looking great! It's fun to see the difference between the indoor and outdoor plants. I'll stick with indoors for now. That outside stuff is too much work .

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Yeah, outdoors is more work, and poses problems I don’t ever experience indoors (mold/bud rot/caterpillars and other bugs). I wish I had the space for an 8 ft tall tent so I could keep taller plants inside for their full cycle, but alas I don’t. I only move them outdoors if they fill the space in the pair of tub/shower enclosures I use.

the outdoor ones are tall and lanky and the indoor ones are more squat and compact. I’ve been cleaning the outdoor ones of yellowing leaves pretty regularly to increase airflow, and offer fewer damaged leaves for bugs to munch. I’ll stop that now, and let the plants suck all the nutrients out of the fading leaves from here to the end.

im Guessing 2 weeks to chop if not earlier. I’m gonna have to sequence that with the upcoming harvest of the 3 Bears OG at the GF house since the Cannatrol won’t hold it all. her plants are probably gonna get the chop this weekend (28 Aug) which will be their 65th day, right in the middle of an advertised 60 - 70 day period. The Cannatrol, has an 8 day cycle, so based on its availability, the Mangos will be coming down in mid-Sep…

Plucked just a couple caterpillars off them today, but once they show up it is hell getting rid of them, so the outdoor plants are gonna come down in the next couple days. The buds are all coated in tricromes that are 90% cloudy and 10% amber. I could wait a week, and maybe gain another few percentages in size, but im happy with how they turned out. They will get a good peroxide wash as flowers still on full limbs, then hang dry in a separate stsnding shower I have with a dehumidifier and a fan. They’ll be in there a day, then I’ll buck the individual flowers off and stash in the Cannatrol.

the inside ones are gonna run another week I think, the Cannatrol has an 8 day cycle, so I might get them in there next week with the stuff from outside and just start the cycle again. Might help with the loading in the unit to have some partially dried stuff in there I can consolidate to give the new stuff breathing room.

and away we go…

I think you almost have to be spraying BTI to control the caterpillars by this time of year. The bug zapper I used last year killed a ton of moths which are what lay the eggs for them. If I grew outdoor again I'd for sure get a bigger one and have that thing cooking on the other side of the house. Good call on the bud wash, that way you can kill any that are hiding deep in the buds and rinse out the poop to stop any bud rot. I might try the extra bucket with baking soda too in addition to the peroxide that way you're killing any mold spores that it could have. If you're doing the bud wash anyway it's just a quick extra dip and rinse. I do 4 buckets, one in peroxide, one baking soda, one warm water rinse and one very cool rinse at the last one. It's the Doc Buds method basically.

I took down the 2 outdoor Mango Smiles a couple days ago - I’d been spraying with BTI in early flowering, and that held the caterpillars at bay for a while but I was finding more of them every day, so I pulled them at day 63, well short of the advertised 70 -90 day harvest period. I probably sacrificed some density and weight, but I was gonna lose them otherwise I think. Trichomes were mostly cloudy with a little clear left and some amber showing up. Coverage of trichomes on the sugar leaves was still developing, but was still pretty thorough.

the trim was meticulous, down to nothing bigger than your thumb, and most if it even smaller. I wanted to get all the stems possible out of there, and I did a through inspection along the way.

I did a wash on them and let them air dry for 24 hrs in a shower enclosure I have at around 50% humidity (I had a dehumidifier in there).

they are sharing The Cannatrol with the 3 Bears OG I harvested from the GF house; I’ll rearrange some of the 3BOG to free up a tray and spread this out onto 2 trays for better airflow.

they’d been in the Cannatrol for a couple days before I got the 3BOG here; I just restarted the unit when the 3BOG got in there.

net wet weight today was 4.2 oz, and they’ve already been drying for a few days; I might get a couple oz from them. Not a huge harvest, but it’ll get me their the winter…

im gonna let the 2 indoor ones go for a while longer. Lots of Mago Smile journals I’ve seen ran them out to 90 - 100 days…that’d put me in late Sep, and I can guarantee that Will be a more impressive harvest…pics of those plants tomorrow…

Retired engineer said:

I took down the 2 outdoor Mango Smiles a couple days ago - I’d been spraying with BTI in early flowering, and that held the caterpillars at bay for a while but I was finding more of them every day, so I pulled them at day 63, well short of the advertised 70 -90 day harvest period. I probably sacrificed some density and weight, but I was gonna lose them otherwise I think. Trichomes were mostly cloudy with a little clear left and some amber showing up. Coverage of trichomes on the sugar leaves was still developing, but was still pretty thorough.

the trim was meticulous, down to nothing bigger than your thumb, and most if it even smaller. I wanted to get all the stems possible out of there, and I did a through inspection along the way.

I did a wash on them and let them air dry for 24 hrs in a shower enclosure I have at around 50% humidity (I had a dehumidifier in there).

they are sharing The Cannatrol with the 3 Bears OG I harvested from the GF house; I’ll rearrange some of the 3BOG to free up a tray and spread this out onto 2 trays for better airflow.

they’d been in the Cannatrol for a couple days before I got the 3BOG here; I just restarted the unit when the 3BOG got in there.

net wet weight today was 4.2 oz, and they’ve already been drying for a few days; I might get a couple oz from them. Not a huge harvest, but it’ll get me their the winter…

im gonna let the 2 indoor ones go for a while longer. Lots of Mago Smile journals I’ve seen ran them out to 90 - 100 days…that’d put me in late Sep, and I can guarantee that Will be a more impressive harvest…pics of those plants tomorrow…View attachment 5189543

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Sounds like a tough call to make but the right one. You gotta decide when to take what you can get when you're dealing with bad bugs and weather. The high difference between the early harvest and later harvest will be interesting to see. Great job again buddy, Mephisto is doing you right.

And, here are the two Mango Smiles still chugging along indoors. If you put these next to the two I grew outdoors, it’d be easy to assume they were different plants. Outdoors were tall, lanky and had significant internodal spacing. The indoor ones are not as tall, and there is very little internodal spacing. The outdoor ones had just a couple sizable colas, and the rest were flowers ranging in from about size of your thumb to small pine cones. The indoor ones are gonna have some sizable colas and very little larfy stuff.

the pair of two foot two bulb T5s on the sides are running just 15 min/hr for the middle 4 hrs of the overall lighting period, and are burning one 3,500k bulb, and one 10,000k bulb. The 10,000k bulb is advertised as a “finishing bulb” and the higher light intensity makes the plants really thicken up and boosts trichrome production, IMHO. I’ve used them before, and scorched plants by having them on too much, so short bursts spread over the overall lighting period works best. I’ll eventually replace the 3,500k bulbs with another pair of 10,000k bulbs, and add a couple on cycles; will probably wind up with 15 min/hr for the middle 8 hrs of a 16 hr overall lighting period 90500 - 2100). 10,000k lighting is said to be beneficial in warding off bud rot and PM as well.

im keeping the LED suspended above them at around 75% power since the tops are pretty close to the light. The lighting from the front/back/both sides is what im really focusing on to fill in the lower parts of the plants.

the breeder claims a harvest period of 70 - 90 days; these are on day 67 now, so I’m in no hurry to harvest. Many Mango Smile journals I’ve seen ran them out to 90 - 100 days, which would put me at the end of Sep…I can wait. I was forced to take down the outdoor ones to avoid bugs, caterpillars and bud rot from oppressively humid and soggy conditions this time of year.

I’ll pull them outta the tub in a couple days for some macro pictures of them with a camera that is better than my IPad. That takes a few hours for setup, multiple shots on a focusing rail and processing in Photoshop, so I will have to find a day/evening when my calendar is open for that. Not too tough to do for a retired engineer actually.

FirstCavApache64 said:

Sounds like a tough call to make but the right one. You gotta decide when to take what you can get when you're dealing with bad bugs and weather. The high difference between the early harvest and later harvest will be interesting to see. Great job again buddy, Mephisto is doing you right.

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Yeah, in some respects it was a tough call since the outdoor plants obviously had a ways to go to fill in and grow larger flowers/colas, but I was gonna lose them to all kinda problems at this time of year around here…gotta know when to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em. On top of that, Ruby told me if I did not harvest she was gonna take her love to town. To paraphrase Kenny Rogers…

I have always believed that it depends on your geographical location as for spraying BT, never used it for over 30 years. That's my location. Go an hour and a half to the Cape, and caterpillars fall from the trees like rain, 24/7.
That being said, I have seen one grow nearly wiped out by borers, which was all new to me, and I believe possibly because the grow was much closer to agricultural zones. We dug out, by hand with a copper wire, dozens and dozens of worms nestled in the crooks if the stalks. Then injected BT in all holes just to be sure. Saved that crop.
I found a little green one on my best buds.. see pic. Also saw some webbing out there, but also a nice fat brown spider. So today I will spray BT even though the buds are pretty far advanced.
I agree with FirstCav, you made the right decision. Better to cut your losses than cut your throat, I always say. Part of the life.
Congrats on another one hanging!

I’m from VT and remember seeing huge webbing in oak trees in the fall from caterpillars - so big and thick you could not see thru them. Couple years there was a big problem with them killing off fully mature trees, so some locales sprayed pretty heavily in Aug/Sep/Oct.

I hate putting anything on my plants after they start flowering, but ya gotta do whatcha gotta do. I deployed some yellow sticky traps around the patio and on the milk crates this morning, just to see what I catch. I’m probably gonna get an industrial size bug zapper soon to put out there - I have a cheap solar powered one now, but it is pretty weak. Just to add to ambiance, I’m gonna get a slew of tiki torches and burn some citronella infused oil too. With the right wind, you might catch a whiff of it up there…

PioneerValleyOG said:

I have always believed that it depends on your geographical location as for spraying BT, never used it for over 30 years. That's my location. Go an hour and a half to the Cape, and caterpillars fall from the trees like rain, 24/7.
That being said, I have seen one grow nearly wiped out by borers, which was all new to me, and I believe possibly because the grow was much closer to agricultural zones. We dug out, by hand with a copper wire, dozens and dozens of worms nestled in the crooks if the stalks. Then injected BT in all holes just to be sure. Saved that crop.
I found a little green one on my best buds.. see pic. Also saw some webbing out there, but also a nice fat brown spider. So today I will spray BT even though the buds are pretty far advanced.
I agree with FirstCav, you made the right decision. Better to cut your losses than cut your throat, I always say. Part of the life.
Congrats on another one hanging!

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This is how I started my day - a punch in the face for sure, with some LA Girlz First Cav gifted me…hope yours started splendidly as well.

Duh, I was referring to some clones I’m growing on the yellow sticky trap comment, that new thread is here:


Fist Cav gifted me those too - he’s alright for a former army guy!

Retired engineer said:

Duh, I was referring to some clones I’m growing on the yellow sticky trap comment, that new thread is here:

Finishing the 2022 outdoor season in SW Virginia - gonna be a challenge

These are a MB15 and a OG Kush photoperiod clones a great buddy gave me, they’ve been growing outdoors for a couple of months. I have them in 5 gallon square cloth bags in milk crates (go figure, i think I have around 15 milk crates now - gotta love ‘em). they are encased in square tomato...

www.rollitup.org

Fist Cav gifted me those too - he’s alright for a former army guy!

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Looked at link, didn't see any yellow sticky trap info, but reminded me to replace mine. Today's BT spray, yellow sticky trap replacement, and feeding day. Gonna wait til it's a Lil cooler, so may water them a little to deal with the heat.

PioneerValleyOG said:

Looked at link, didn't see any yellow sticky trap info, but reminded me to replace mine. Today's BT spray, yellow sticky trap replacement, and feeding day. Gonna wait til it's a Lil cooler, so may water them a little to deal with the heat.

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I took the pic before the yellow sticky traps were placed…here they are now. Another benefit of the milk crates…I ran out of large binder clips; will get more and cover all the exposed sides

Retired engineer said:

This is how I started my day - a punch in the face for sure, with some LA Girlz First Cav gifted me…hope yours started splendidly as well.

View attachment 5189846

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That thing looks really cool. It actually doesn't look out of place in the kitchen. Reminds me of a high end espresso machine in a way.

Retired engineer said:

I took the pic before the yellow sticky traps were placed…here they are now. Another benefit of the milk crates…I ran out of large binder clips; will get more and cover all the exposed sides View attachment 5189893View attachment 5189894View attachment 5189895View attachment 5189896View attachment 5189893View attachment 5189894View attachment 5189895View attachment 5189896

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That Motorbreath 15 will have your neighbors thinking their lawnmower is leaking gas lol. That plus the OG Kush should be a nice harvest for you. They're looking great.

FirstCavApache64 said:

That thing looks really cool. It actually doesn't look out of place in the kitchen. Reminds me of a high end espresso machine in a way.

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I just cleaned it up - the two glass globes were sticky as hell and it runs clean as hell now…I still can’t take in a full hit but all ya have to do is turn the globes horizontal and it stops pushing the smoke out. I cleaned out my bong too - and not sure when I’ll use that again TBH. The Volcano is still a winner though, think I’ll fire it up now…

Retired engineer said:

I took down the 2 outdoor Mango Smiles a couple days ago - I’d been spraying with BTI in early flowering, and that held the caterpillars at bay for a while but I was finding more of them every day, so I pulled them at day 63, well short of the advertised 70 -90 day harvest period. I probably sacrificed some density and weight, but I was gonna lose them otherwise I think. Trichomes were mostly cloudy with a little clear left and some amber showing up. Coverage of trichomes on the sugar leaves was still developing, but was still pretty thorough.

the trim was meticulous, down to nothing bigger than your thumb, and most if it even smaller. I wanted to get all the stems possible out of there, and I did a through inspection along the way.

I did a wash on them and let them air dry for 24 hrs in a shower enclosure I have at around 50% humidity (I had a dehumidifier in there).

they are sharing The Cannatrol with the 3 Bears OG I harvested from the GF house; I’ll rearrange some of the 3BOG to free up a tray and spread this out onto 2 trays for better airflow.

they’d been in the Cannatrol for a couple days before I got the 3BOG here; I just restarted the unit when the 3BOG got in there.

net wet weight today was 4.2 oz, and they’ve already been drying for a few days; I might get a couple oz from them. Not a huge harvest, but it’ll get me their the winter…

im gonna let the 2 indoor ones go for a while longer. Lots of Mago Smile journals I’ve seen ran them out to 90 - 100 days…that’d put me in late Sep, and I can guarantee that Will be a more impressive harvest…pics of those plants tomorrow…View attachment 5189543

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Nice harvest there dude! Would you mind sharing a smoke report? I’m tempted to grow this strain but not many reviews on it.

cheers bud

Nutty sKunK said:

Nice harvest there dude! Would you mind sharing a smoke report? I’m tempted to grow this strain but not many reviews on it.

cheers bud

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Sure thing, it’ll be about a month or so…but it’s in the calendar. I’m anxious to see how these turned out too!

Retired engineer said:

Sure thing, it’ll be about a month or so…but it’s in the calendar. I’m anxious to see how these turned out too!

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Cheers bud! Good timing as I’ll be setting my tent up in about a month

The inside ones are still sprinting toward the finish line. They’ve been on Nectar for the Gods Roman regimen for their entire life (with adjuncts along the way), and are really filling in and packing on trichromes. the lighting schedule is spread out during the lighting period in intensity; the suspended LED and T5 (with LED bulbs) on the back wall are on for 16 hrs, and the 6 fixture T5 (3,500k bulbs) pointing in from the front is on for the middle 6 hrs of the lighting period, and the pair of 2 foot T5 fixtures (10,000k and 3,500k bulbs in each) are on 15 min/hr for the middle 4 hrs of the lighting period. They see most intense light at “mid-day”, and it ramps up and down up slowly. I think they like that.

they are on day 72; Mephisto claims a harvest window of 70 - 90 days from sprout. Im gonna let them run for at least another week if not more - if I can push them to 90 days (or longer) that’s the plan.