Ep 035: Day 52 Flower Review: Smell and Finish Check
· Jeremy walks the 10x10 tent on day 52 of flower (three days into week eight, video 28 of the series), delivering a plant-by-plant review of both genetics in the room: Halitosis (chem d cross) and Branson's Royal Revenge. He smells each plant, narrates the terpene profiles he's picking up, assesses bud structure, color, resin coverage, and estimates how much longer each plant needs before harvest. He also notes a single nanner found on the Halitosis number 12, talks about living-soil finish philosophy (let the plant tell you vs preemptive flushing), and ends with a quadrant four update on the companion vegetable crop.
Topics
Day 52 of flower walk-through and pre-harvest assessment · Halitosis (chem d cross) terpene profile plant by plant · Branson's Royal Revenge (GMO-leaning) terpene profile plant by plant · Foxtailing vs spear bud structure under the trellis · Resin rail / trichome head visibility close-up review · Finding and evaluating a single late-flower nanner · Living soil finish philosophy vs flush-forced harvest · Rainbow fade, purple, plum and wine bud colors · Dominance between co-planted plants in shared beds · Companion vegetable quadrant four update (tomato, lettuce, radish, pepper)
Sections
Intro — day 52 walk-through plan
Jeremy opens by stating it's day 52 of flower, video 28 in the series, and three days into week eight. He explains that since the room has two different genetics (Halitosis and Branson's Royal Revenge), it's a perfect chance to show how they finish at different speeds. He says he filmed close-ups separately on an iPhone because the GoPro can't zoom in, and he'll drop them in during editing so viewers can feel like they walked in and got up close. He warns that from afar plants can look worse or better than they really are, and since viewers can't smell them through the screen he will narrate the odors plant by plant.
- 1. State day in flower (day 52) and week (three days into week eight)
- 2. Note this is video 28 of the 10x10 series
- 3. Flag two different genetics in the room — Halitosis and Branson's Royal Revenge
- 4. Explain close-ups were shot separately on iPhone because GoPro cannot zoom in tight
- 5. Promise to describe smells in plain language rather than pro terpene vocabulary
- 6. Plan to walk through every plant and do a second pass to confirm first impressions
Halitosis number 1 — earth box quadrant one
Jeremy starts on the first plant, Halitosis number 1, in the first Earth Box quadrant. He shows how the lowers are fully filled underneath the screen (trellis), points out foxtailing at the top where calyxes keep stacking, and opens a bud up to show the inside. He smells the bud and calls it a classic fuel smell with turpentine notes, astringent but not as toxic as a GMO funk. He describes Halitosis as a chem d cross and expects a headbandy-sweet fuel taste on the smoke.
- 1. Get underneath the trellis screen to inspect lowers
- 2. Confirm lowers are fully filled in
- 3. Observe foxtailing/stacking at the top of the cola
- 4. Open up a bud to show the inside
- 5. Rub the underside of a bud to get resin grease on fingers and smell that
- 6. Describe terpene profile (fuel, turpentine, astringent, headbandy-sweet)
Halitosis number 4 — second earth box quadrant
Jeremy moves to Halitosis number 4, the second plant in the Earth Box quadrant. He notes it's finishing faster, is a little lighter in color and rounder in shape — more 'golf bally' nugs rather than the foxtailing of number 1. It did not stack as aggressively despite being closer to the light. Up close the resin rails and trichome heads are very visible, and he's hoping it will wash well (hash/rosin reference). Smell is still fuelly but with more balance and less astringent turpentine than number 1.
- 1. Note finishing speed (faster than number 1)
- 2. Compare bud shape (rounder/golf bally vs foxtailed)
- 3. Inspect resin rails and trichome head visibility
- 4. Smell the bud for comparison to number 1
- 5. Flag it as a good hash-wash candidate
Halitosis number 8 — three by three front
Jeremy walks to Halitosis number 8, the front plant in the three-by-three quadrant. It's stacking really well, but he notes some leaves closer to the light got discolored. He admits that for the last couple of weeks he hasn't been in the grow as often or watering first thing in the morning like he'd prefer. Lights are currently dimmed so he doesn't need safety glasses to inspect up close. He loves the big clusters on the stalk — says they'll be easy to trim. Up close, number 8 is the strongest-smelling plant so far, coating his nostrils with fueliness. Same profile as the chem d family.
- 1. Inspect bud stacking and note light-burned leaves
- 2. Keep lights dimmed to remove need for safety glasses while working
- 3. Smell the bud and rank its strength against the prior plants
- 4. Flag the cluster structure as 'almost no trim work' quality
Halitosis number 2 — back of three by three
Jeremy moves to Halitosis number 2, the back plant in the three-by-three. Very similar structure to number 8 — he couldn't tell them apart if he needed to. Smelling it, he picks up the same fuel base but a very faint fruitiness and sweetness, which is different from the other three Halitosis. He notes the nugs just keep filling in: started looking like they might foxtail but filled into spears. Thinks with more food and a cleaner clone run from the start, these could fully connect into solid spears. Also says trim is basically pop one leaf and it's trim nug — almost no work.
- 1. Compare overall structure to Halitosis number 8
- 2. Smell for new terpene notes (fruit, sweet, fuel base)
- 3. Inspect calyx stacking down the length of the cola
- 4. Speculate on how a cleaner clone run could push yield further
Branson's Royal Revenge in the earth box — cannibalized by Halitosis
Jeremy moves to the Branson's side of the Earth Box and explains it's been cannibalized by the neighboring Halitosis in the shared bed. He teaches a principle: when you put two plants with different growth speeds or stretch heights in the same bed, one dominates and the other produces less than it would alone. The Branson's buds are very different from Halitosis — more swollen calyxes, bigger, fewer tight clusters, small cookie-shaped single/double/triple leaves, really frosty and resin-railed, with more color (purples) and healthier across the board with no yellowing. He calls the inside a rainbow, not a faded dying-out color. The smell is more GMO funk, not as astringent as fuel, with something uniquely sweet layered in — his favorite kind of fuel-plus-fruit cross.
- 1. Note the weaker-yielding Branson's in the shared Earth Box
- 2. Explain the dominance principle when co-planting different speeds in one bed
- 3. Observe swollen calyxes, small cookie-shaped leaves, purple color, full frost
- 4. Check for hermaphrodites and credit the early light-leak issues as fixed
- 5. Smell the bud and describe GMO funk with unique sweetness
Quadrant three — Halitosis number 12 and the single nanner
Jeremy walks to quadrant three and covers Halitosis number 12, which will be the fastest finisher. He describes chunky calyxes noduling out, calling the back plant's look 'like an alien cush.' It's getting more purple and has nice dense buds. While inspecting, he finds a single nanner (hermaphrodite male flower / light mannering) on this plant. He says it's so late in flower that he doesn't think it will be an issue for anyone, and even if this plant were the winner that wouldn't stop him from growing it — he'd just watch it more carefully towards the end. He calls it 'something to be aware of' but not a dealbreaker.
- 1. Inspect chunky calyx structure and compare front/back plants
- 2. Look for hermaphrodite traits (nanners / mannering)
- 3. Locate and flag one nanner on Halitosis number 12
- 4. Weigh risk vs how late in flower the plant is
- 5. Decide the single nanner is not a dealbreaker for keeping this cultivar
Branson's number 2 and number 8 — hair and nug density
Jeremy moves to Branson's number 2 and points out structural differences — it's rounder, less noduled, slightly less purple, with darker leaves. Then he covers Branson's number 8 (front right of section three), which has the most unique hairs of any plant in the room: thick, long, firing out of every nodule. Very dense nugs — he expects them to weigh heavy. On smell, number 2 leans more fuel / less fruit, and number 8 is similar to the back Branson's: fruit plus funk.
- 1. Compare bud roundness and leaf color between the Branson's plants
- 2. Inspect pistil (hair) thickness and rotation out of nodules
- 3. Assess density by visual/feel and predict nug weight
- 4. Smell each and rank against the other Branson's plants
Branson's number 5 — the grape funk favorite
Jeremy climbs into the middle of the bed to the Branson's number 5, which he calls his favorite so far. It's super resin-railed with thick dense nugs, almost alien-looking. He opens it up and inspects for bud rot because of how dense it is. Smell is distinctly grape funk — a grapey profile he did not expect from Branson's — with fuel underneath. He describes a rainbow fade with rose/wine color and plum purple coming through — the classic Long Valley fade. He says if he grew really big buds on this one he'd actually be worried about bud rot because of the density.
- 1. Open the bud up to check the inside for bud rot on dense colas
- 2. Smell for terpene notes and log 'grape funk'
- 3. Pull a back leaf off to expose the rainbow fade color
- 4. Note wine/rose and plum purple pigments as Long Valley trait
- 5. Flag dense colas as a bud rot risk at bigger bud size
Finish timing and living soil harvest philosophy
Jeremy wraps the flower walkthrough and gives finish estimates. Number 12 will be the fastest finisher but still needs a minimum of another week. The rest need at least another 10 days. The Halitosis plants will likely go two to three more weeks. He's still seeing white pistils pushing on everything, so nothing is done. He teaches the living-soil finish principle: unlike synthetic growers who preemptively flush two weeks before a set harvest date, in living soil you let the plant tell you when it's ready. If it takes too long for your schedule, it's probably not your keeper — but you should harvest the finished ones first and let the slow ones fully ripen so every jar is the best it can be. He flags that some plants ripen from the top first and some ripen from the bottom up.
- 1. Inspect all plants for white pistils still pushing
- 2. Estimate days-to-harvest per plant (Halitosis 12 minimum one more week, rest minimum 10 days, most Halitosis 2-3 more weeks)
- 3. Reject preemptive flushing as a practice in living soil
- 4. Let each plant finish on its own timeline
- 5. Harvest finished plants first and leave slower ones in the tent
- 6. Know that some plants ripen top-down and some bottom-up
Quadrant four vegetable update
Jeremy closes with a quadrant four update on the companion edible crop. Lettuce is 'banging through' after a slow start. More carrots are germinating slowly. A pepper seed still hasn't germinated past its expected window. He's pulling one tomato plant right now because of blossom end rot — wants to release energy to the other tomatoes. He attributes the end rot to infrequent watering in a small container plus under/over watering and maybe some nutrition, and says a larger container would avoid the issue entirely. Since he top-dressed the tomatoes with coco and Craft Blend, no more end rot has appeared. A cherry tomato has popped and will run through grow cycle two — he expects it to yield much more edible fruit than the current slicing variety. Kale is recovering, radishes are thickening up. He plans to thin radishes so each has the space of an egg to fully form. The pepper plant looks haggard but is still pushing — he pulled six or seven peppers the other day and more are still on the plant.
- 1. Observe lettuce starting to pick up speed
- 2. Check carrot germination progress
- 3. Pull one tomato with blossom end rot to redirect energy
- 4. Top-dress tomatoes with coco and Craft Blend to stop end rot
- 5. Commit to cherry tomato as the grow variety for cycle two
- 6. Thin radishes so each has roughly one egg's width of space
- 7. Keep watering the root-bound pepper plant while it's still producing
Outro — living soil encouragement and home grower message
Jeremy tells home growers to keep it simple, run a systematic schedule, and they can absolutely slay this grow even better than he is — he's running a business with a lot going on, and this is at work, not at home. His message: you shouldn't be buying herb from anybody, you should be growing it for yourself and sharing with friends. Closes with the usual like/subscribe/share ask and says he'll see viewers on the next video.
- 1. Keep the grow simple
- 2. Keep a systematic schedule
- 3. Grow your own herb instead of buying
- 4. Share with friends
Notable quotes
"from far away it's easy to make them look worse or better than they really are"
Why Jeremy insists on close-up iPhone footage instead of relying on the GoPro wide shot — a core philosophical beat about honest flower review.
"in living soil you just let the plant tell you when"
The single cleanest statement of his living-soil harvest philosophy — rejecting preemptive flushing and calendar-driven harvest dates.
"that's like my favorite when you can cross the fuel that i always always want because it coats your mouth with a little bit of that fruit"
On smelling the Branson's Royal Revenge in the Earth Box — his personal terpene manifesto for why fuel-plus-fruit is his favorite profile archetype.
"when you're in a bed and you have two different speeds of growth or two different heights of stretches can really make a difference on the production of the inferior plant — the one that was weaker. and i don't mean weaker as in genetics or weaker as an inferior from quality but when you put side by side one's going to dominate"
Teaching moment on bed dominance as he explains why the Earth Box Branson's is underperforming against its Halitosis neighbor.
"i just it's so late it's almost about to finish i just don't think it's going to be an issue for anybody. it's the only one i've been able to find something on so something to be aware of but i don't think if this was the winner i don't think that would stop me from growing it"
On finding a single nanner on Halitosis number 12 — his measured take on how to read late-flower hermie traits.
"i basically pop a leaf off trim one leaf and it's it's trim nug i mean it's going to be almost no work in there"
On the ease of trimming Halitosis — praising the cluster/spear structure that makes post-harvest quick.
"that's getting that rainbow fade that long valley is so famous for"
Admiring the rose/wine/plum purple late-flower colors on Branson's number 5.
"you shouldn't be buying herb from anybody you should be growing it for yourself sharing with your friends"
Closing home-grower philosophy — the mission statement of the whole 10x10 series.
Glossary terms from this episode
alien cush look · blossom end rot · bud rot · cannibalized (bed dominance) · chem d · cookie-shaped leaves · day 52 of flower · defoliation (late flower) · Earth Box · Fade · firing hairs · Foxtailing · fuel plus fruit cross · GMO funk · golf bally nug shape · grape funk · headbandy sweet · hermaphrodite / hermie · let the plant tell you · Light leak · nanner / mannering · pistils / white hairs · preemptive flush · quadrant system · rainbow fade · Resin rails · ripen top-down / bottom-up · Root bound · scoping trichomes · stacking weight
Products mentioned
Craft Blend · EarthBox Self-Watering Container · GoPro camera · Radish seed · Carrot seed · iPhone (for close-up video) · trellis screen / scrog net · dimmable grow light (10x10) · grow room safety glasses · Halitosis seed / cut · Branson's Royal Revenge seed / cut · coco coir (top-dress) · cherry tomato seed · lettuce (companion crop) · pepper seed (not germinated) · tomato plant (slicing variety) · kale plant · pepper plant (producing) · broom and vacuum (grow room cleaning)