For frostier nugs, assuming frosty genetics, do you increase distance from light near the end of bloom?

Apostatize

Well-Known Member
I'm trying to figure out why I'm not getting more frost. I'm expecting Gorilla Cookies to be frostier. Getting phenotype down to 1 seedline, so buds should be dense and squared off like a puffy crown (slightly sativa-dom, it's a pretty complex flower compared with indicas I'm familiar with). Once I narrow phenotype to 1, I want to leave the flower in bloom longer to see how red/colorful it gets (same thing with Bruce Banner). Lots of oil, so it gets pretty hard. Perhaps the longer flowering time will add crystals.... Pulling plants away from lights (because I have them very close) should reduce likelihood of foxtailing, which I found 5 Alive can get ruined nearly overnight because of foxtailing.

Any tips on frost gains/foxtail-avoidance are appreciated.
 
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curious2garden

Well-Known Mod
Staff member
I'm trying to figure out why I'm not getting more frost. I'm expecting Gorilla Cookies to be frostier. Getting phenotype down to 1 seedline, so buds should be dense and squared off like a puffy crown. Once I narrow phenotype to 1, I want to leave the flower in bloom longer to see how red/colorful it gets (same thing with Bruce Banner). Lots of oil, so it gets pretty hard. Perhaps the longer flowering time will add crystals.... Pulling plants away from lights (because I have them very close) should reduce likelihood of foxtailing, which I found 5 Alive can get ruined nearly overnight because of foxtailing.

Any tips on frost gains/foxtail-avoidance are appreciated.
Why, is it seed or clone? You can have realistic expectations about clones but seeds are a roll of the dice every time.
 

Apostatize

Well-Known Member
Seeds. For Gorilla Cookies, I had clones I'd lettered at least A-F, keeping B though A's alright. I'm hoping that B has a bit more frost. I'll focus more on it once I've worked through (killed or bloomed) the remaining seedlines.

Kept the one with the best shaped buds and highest yield. Full buds, more of an opportunity to express its genetics. Finally getting flowers to really open up. Now, I want to wait and see what happens later in bloom. Do they continue to get more colorful awhile? Do they get frostier? Not so much worried about trichomes (for the round or two I'm experimenting). This one doesn't stink much. So, looks aren't going to keep it in the rotation if it doesn't have lots of frost.
 
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curious2garden

Well-Known Mod
Staff member
Seeds. For Gorilla Cookies, I had clones I'd lettered at least A-F, keeping B though A's alright. I'm hoping that B has a bit more frost. I'll focus more on it once I've worked through (killed or bloomed) the remaining seedlines.

Kept the one with the best shaped buds and highest yield. Full buds, more of an opportunity to express its genetics. Finally getting flowers to really open up. Now, I want to wait and see what happens later in bloom. Do they continue to get more colorful awhile? Do they get frostier? Not so much worried about trichomes (for the round or two I'm experimenting). This one doesn't stink much. So, looks aren't going to keep it in the rotation if it doesn't have lots of frost.
You say seeds and discuss clones......... what is it, seeds or clones????
 

Apostatize

Well-Known Member
sorry, didn't realize it was a leap of logic. started with seeds, cloned them all since you can't predict the future, kept them all going a few rounds (to make sure shortcomings are theirs, not mine), now selected the keeper. i know it takes 100s or more seeds to really pick a winner but I just picked the best of the 6-12 seeds i had. couldn't base it just on how the first round did because I'm new and assumed some of the shortcoming were mine. didn't judge too harshly the first couple of rounds.
 

Alter Jean

Well-Known Member
sorry, didn't realize it was a leap of logic. started with seeds, cloned them all since you can't predict the future, kept them all going a few rounds (to make sure shortcomings are theirs, not mine), now selected the keeper. i know it takes 100s or more seeds to really pick a winner but I just picked the best of the 6-12 seeds i had. couldn't base it just on how the first round did because I'm new and assumed some of the shortcoming were mine. didn't judge too harshly the first couple of rounds.
Makes sense.. Sounds like you've got a good start. So you've already done a few runs with the plants..

How did you go about choosing your keeper?
 

Apostatize

Well-Known Member
Makes sense.. Sounds like you've got a good start. So you've already done a few runs with the plants..

How did you go about choosing your keeper?
Well, I started with ~15 strains. I had beans from multiple sources for a few of the strains. I kept growing them and smoking them. Over and over. Haha. I kept it simple, I let them go a few rounds. I just looked for healthy plants that yield a lot relative to others but don't have foxtailing. Beyond that's a plus. There were other criteria for why I chose particular strains, my selections are my best representation of each.

Now, I'm selecting phenos for 8 different strains. With 8, I'm in a position to dial-in what I've got and tryout 1-2 new strains every year. One strain at a time, I might just germinate two seeds at a time. I got lucky with Taskenti. Two seeds germinated; one thrived, the other survived. That pheno selection was easy. On other strains, choosing between 5+ at a time is kind of wasteful because I'm going to burn that many more resources on clones (initially, 2-4 per plant) that I don't need. Oh well, I'm (mostly) satisfied for now.
 

Alter Jean

Well-Known Member
Very nice.. For being new sounds like you got a cool approach. For me I like viewing a big body of plants because it gives you a good picture of them all together. But I can see why you would want to do 2 at a time. Sometimes it makes it harder this way if you think about it..

Do you have a journal?
 

Apostatize

Well-Known Member
Very nice.. For being new sounds like you got a cool approach. For me I like viewing a big body of plants because it gives you a good picture of them all together. But I can see why you would want to do 2 at a time. Sometimes it makes it harder this way if you think about it..

Do you have a journal?
Thank you. I'm just trying to slip into the caregiver model (eventually) ... and offer a variety because I'm not getting any younger, and I want to improve my knowledge of what plants can/will do (the more you grow, the more you know (ha)).

The journal idea is great. I want to get my situation to where I'm using a journal to chronicle a repeatable process. I'm not there yet. And I think it's cool that there's a huge diy element to my current setup, but ... overall, my approach can seem a bit unorthodox; so, I want to make sure it's set up for success. Within a few years, I'll take everything I've learned from my current setup and make a more sophisticated version of it in a different house. For example, I'd make the gaps between shelves wider next time ... and it would be like 3 or 4x larger. Haha.
 

Alter Jean

Well-Known Member
Thank you. I'm just trying to slip into the caregiver model (eventually) ... and offer a variety because I'm not getting any younger, and I want to improve my knowledge of what plants can/will do (the more you grow, the more you know (ha)).

The journal idea is great. I want to get my situation to where I'm using a journal to chronicle a repeatable process. I'm not there yet. And I think it's cool that there's a huge diy element to my current setup, but ... overall, my approach can seem a bit unorthodox; so, I want to make sure it's set up for success. Within a few years, I'll take everything I've learned from my current setup and make a more sophisticated version of it in a different house. For example, I'd make the gaps between shelves wider next time ... and it would be like 3 or 4x larger. Haha.
Nice. Journals are neat to keep track - You can go back and study things you might have overlooked. Regardless of the setup they are in it's more about the plants. But I understand what you mean..

If you start one.. Will join along. Unorthodox is fun :blsmoke:
 

Apostatize

Well-Known Member
I'm finding that I was calling plants "done" too early. I was considering milky white trichomes dispositive -- done. But playing around with a couple strains (Gorilla Cookies and a purple Gelato), the sativa-dom flowers are not done developing and neither plant was done producing frost.... I'd also moved them about 2 feet lower. Now, I'm letting them ripen for another week after moving them.

Dialing-in frostiness seems like the fun part. Glad I'm not wasting my time doing dumb shit anymore like struggling with heat....
 

Porky1982

Well-Known Member
Well, I started with ~15 strains. I had beans from multiple sources for a few of the strains. I kept growing them and smoking them. Over and over. Haha. I kept it simple, I let them go a few rounds. I just looked for healthy plants that yield a lot relative to others but don't have foxtailing. Beyond that's a plus. There were other criteria for why I chose particular strains, my selections are my best representation of each.

Now, I'm selecting phenos for 8 different strains. With 8, I'm in a position to dial-in what I've got and tryout 1-2 new strains every year. One strain at a time, I might just germinate two seeds at a time. I got lucky with Taskenti. Two seeds germinated; one thrived, the other survived. That pheno selection was easy. On other strains, choosing between 5+ at a time is kind of wasteful because I'm going to burn that many more resources on clones (initially, 2-4 per plant) that I don't need. Oh well, I'm (mostly) satisfied for now.
Well maybe instead of looking for the traits you mentioned above you should have kept the most frosty.
 

Apostatize

Well-Known Member
Well maybe instead of looking for the traits you mentioned above you should have kept the most frosty.
Point taken. Healthy, fullest/best-shaped buds aren't a bad place to start. Kind of hard to select for something you don't know how to do. Turns out, I was just pulling plants too early and possibly had them too close to lights (at least toward the end). Gorilla Cookies are now steeped in snowy crystals (as expected). They're much more developed this time, too. By the time it's just my selected pheno, they'll be good to go. Then, I'll be ready for real deal, regular seeds (Jungle Boys, Dark Horse). Lol, prime time 2022.
 
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Porky1982

Well-Known Member
Point taken. Healthy, fullest/best-shaped buds aren't a bad place to start. Turns out, I was just pulling plants too early and possibly had them too close to lights (at least toward the end). Gorilla Cookies are now steeped in snowy crystals (as expected). They're much more developed this time, too. By the time it's just my selected pheno, they'll be good to go. Then, I'll be ready for real deal, regular seeds (Jungle Boys, Dark Horse). Lol, prime time 2022.
Personally I think frost is 99% genetics. You'll see this when growing multiple strains inside in the same environment. One plant is very frosty where the plant next to it is not as frosty. I've even seen it with the same strain but different pheno types.
 

Apostatize

Well-Known Member
Personally I think frost is 99% genetics. You'll see this when growing multiple strains inside in the same environment. One plant is very frosty where the plant next to it is not as frosty. I've even seen it with the same strain but different pheno types.
Oh, I agree with you. Thanks. Now that I'm passed judging "done" based on trichomes alone, and have a better appreciation for distance-to-light, I have a better understanding of when to expect the most crystals to form. The strains I'm going to select in the future will only be frostier and more potent ... all part of the learning process, I'll know what to look for when I finally get a hold of The Jungle Boys' Florida Kush and/or Dark Horse's Hulkamania, Conjugal Visit, or Roid Rage. They're all regular seeds. Seems like the best stuff is scarce, regular, and currently out of stock....
 

PadawanWarrior

Well-Known Member
I'm trying to figure out why I'm not getting more frost. I'm expecting Gorilla Cookies to be frostier. Getting phenotype down to 1 seedline, so buds should be dense and squared off like a puffy crown (slightly sativa-dom, it's a pretty complex flower compared with indicas I'm familiar with). Once I narrow phenotype to 1, I want to leave the flower in bloom longer to see how red/colorful it gets (same thing with Bruce Banner). Lots of oil, so it gets pretty hard. Perhaps the longer flowering time will add crystals.... Pulling plants away from lights (because I have them very close) should reduce likelihood of foxtailing, which I found 5 Alive can get ruined nearly overnight because of foxtailing.

Any tips on frost gains/foxtail-avoidance are appreciated.
Renfro does it. I'm too lazy though.

 

Apostatize

Well-Known Member
well, wouldn't you know it -- drying dense, oily plants a little longer helps the frost stand out better.... (I know you know, now I know). So, Grape Ape and Gorilla Cookies are getting at least a 12 and 3/4-day hang. That last 16-18 hrs really dries off the oil/extra moisture in the denser strains. Awesome, I was a little bummed out/underwhelmed.
 
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