Started my first ever grow as soon as I could after moving into a house with a space to grow in finally in mid-July. Knew that I had a holiday booked but thought I might be able to squeeze a quick one in. Already harvested and am curing a lovely but meagre california hash, got a blue hash looking just about ready to go which I'll chop tomorrow right before I go away. However also got an unwieldy bagseed sativa with white pistils only, and the trichomes that I can find are on the pistils only (none on the leaves) and are headless (although they're not the other hair type trichomes.)

I knew when I embarked upon this that there may be some wastage, but now after all this time feels a bit of a shame just to bin it. No chance in hell of leaving the light on (spousal over-rule), so I can either leave it in the dark up to its tits in water (and compost) and see what's happened in 3 and a half weeks time, chop it and hang it tomorrow too, or bin the lanky bastard.

What say you?

PS I'll put some pictures up tonight once the lights gone back on.

im not sure but i think RANDALIZER leaves his in the dark for a week before the chop, have a lookysee in his grow diaries or see if he comes along

Congratulations on your first success mate.



It's a hard one - something tells me after three weeks in the dark, full of water, you'll come back to a rotten mess.. You can do that for a few days, but no more.


Personally, I would work like hell on the missus to see if she will agree to allow you to leave a small light on a timer, just enough to keep it ticking over.. If I really couldn't do that I'd ask a mate for help - no good if none of them know you grow..Or cut it just before you go and try and make some oil or something..

a week or 2 in the dark would be ok dunno bout 3 tho. it wouldnt stop growing straight away more likely to very slowly shut it down, some growers turn their lights out for a week or so if the heat gets way too much in the summer cos the heat would do more damage than darkness. its the watering you wanna be more worried about if you wanna keep it alive till u get back.
youd ave to keep ventilation en extraction fans on to help prevent mold etc but it woud probably be better than harvesting it now or jus throwing it away. never know you might be pleasantly surprised an either find a nice dried smokable bit of bud still on the plant ready to trim an cure or still have a living plant by when get back u can fatten up a bit an put the lights back on depends how much water you give it before you go an if it can hold that long without water.

should be ok an still give u something probably jus dry up an die on the stalk by the time your back but will still grow for a bit until it runs outta water jus not as fast without light an would die eventually regardless of water.

Cheers all.

Had an interesting read of this after what you said there trebor, and a light sniff round one of randalizers grow diarys. Interesting stuff. Taking off the fan leaves probably slows down the processes that use up the soil water too methinks. Also pretty cold in attic without light / heater on, should slow down absorbtion too. Final potting was into a big old "self watering" patio pot with an isolated reservoir at the bottom, which I was thinking was a bad move about 3 weeks ago but maybe liking more now. Maybe i can put a bit of extra compost in the pot, water a bit more than usual and fill up the reservoir???

Andypotatoes - would love to keep a light on but defo over-ruled. The killer is her brother's coming round every week to water all the house plants. He'll be a few feet from away from the lolloping bagseed with a watering can in his hand. annoying.

Grimweeder - extraction fan will be on... Gonna be drying the Blue Hash whatever over the holiday and so will be keeping the fan/cf going. Got a cardboard box situated along the in-line ventilation feed for the tent already that I dried the california in whilst the other two were growing. Could bang the blue in there and leave the bagseed in the pot in the dark. Even if it does go to shit and go mouldy it shouldn't affect the drying box higher up the ventilation chain. Sorry, thinking aloud here. If it does die and dry on the stalk will all the good stuff die too?

any chance of leaving it by a window or greenhouse

Get some bollocks man and tell her its cool, so many of us cant be wrong....

Thanks for all your help here team.

No greenhouse, can't do windows either cause of the smell. I have big hairy bollocks. Wouldn't honestly be happy meself walking away from a big burning light in the loft with something growing at it (and all around it) and no chance of checking it for 3 and a half weeks. I'd rather enjoy me holiday. Might yet be persuaded though.

Why dont you get an enviro light in their for the 3 weeks plugged into an RCD adaptor

Not a bad idea that speedemon. Could possibly pick one up tomorrow. Fairly cheap way to beef up my set up a bit too. Do they run cold then?

Google Micromark 7Litre Houseplant Watering System

Hook it up to a timer perhaps ?

They run cooler than HPS depends if you get a 250 watt or just a 125 watt cfl, it will get you through your hols easily though

don't get an enviro lite, the rcd wont stop the dry leaves in constant contact with the lamp catching on fire even though unlikely. still a stupid risk to take ! leave it in the dark, with a good supply of water, three weeks is a push, you may find a lot of dead leaves when you get back, but the plant will i'd say almost definitely be alive, if your pots are big enough and it stays fairly cold you might find that the compost is still moist when you get back!. i once ound a couple of rooted clones in 2" square starter pots, i'd left in an old box for well over 2 months in the dark, soil dry as a bone, but still had a couple of tiny tiny green shoots left on it. and with a lot of tlc and plenty of water, they grew into normal healthy plants!! the'll do anything to stay alive, even if it means sacrificing every leaf on the plant to keep a single growth tip alive. a large plant will EASILY survive 3 weeks (although it may well look a bit worse for wear by the end of it)

Thanks for all your input here crew. That watering machine looks cool Elmingo but I really should have pulled my finger out of my arse a week ago and consulted all you brains rather than being, as usual, last minute Louie. I'll probably get one for the future as my work often has me away for up to a week sometimes. Thankfully with the recession I've got plenty of time to care for the ladies right about now. Think I'll get a little grow enviro too later now that I've given it some thought, Speedemon, fairly cheap way to add to muscle to me set-up, also not waste too much leccy on the seedlings. For now though if there's any doubt about whether I'm gonna burn down me new house at all I'm gonna go darkside and see what happens. Positive news there Scraglor... sounds like it's definitely worth a try. Sounds like I should maybe leave the leaves on too, let the plant manage itself best it can rather than me chop the fans off now.

Many thanks to you all. This truly is a fantastic pool of ideas, knowledge and support for bumbling twats like me. Ta.

Get some capillary matting to keep the plants ticking over, or at a push a bath towel, just keep one end in a bath or bucket of water and sit the plant on the other end, can't help with the light problem.

JOM