New Grower new grower

[XBL4CKJ4CKX]

Hello All,
I originally introduced myself a little while back. Something happened to my account and I had to start a new.
So i just recently started my first grow . An excited newb I am. My first one was Bubbalicious and my second one 2 weeks later was Dinafem Fruit. I had a very low budget setup using 3x2x3 old wooden file cabinet, 2 100w CFLs and later added 3 more. i used tap water and some miracle grow nutes.
BEFORE THE BASHING BEGINS... I know these are well bellow standards for most plants but college and just moving out on my own calls for some budget cuts. i really wanted to use this as a test run and just wanted to get some basics down so that when im finaincially ready i can seriously put together a nice home built grow closet. So basically im just tryin to get a prototype down and some good plans.

auto bubbalicious (pictures 1&4) grew very nicely she is bushy and i used a bending technique(concerned with space) to keep the top from getting too tall. she begain budding 3 weeks ago and she was in the dirt 02/05/13. the buds are small and i know the plant should be nearing completion within the next few weeks. im starting to flush now by feeding only water. but before i started with 1 capful of miracle grow 8-8-8 soultion per gallon and increased the capful every 10 days.
auto fruit(pictures 2&3)- is my star player. dark green leaves. i did a super crop on the second node and it grew the top two colas very nicely. im proud of her because her bud looks like the stuff im use too. she was laid to bed 02/19/13.
now i just ask for any feedback that anyone can give on what i should do next.
a few questions:
how long should i let bubba continue before i chop her down and dry her?
how do i know when the girls are ready to be cut down?
how long should i dry?
how long should i cure?
fruit close up
fruit

bubba close up

bubba

 

[bam-bam]

welcome mate
:group::group:

 

[GoAuto6]

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Any question's feel free to ask, If I don't know the answer's, I can tell you who will..​

 

[fatcalvin]

how long should i let bubba continue before i chop her down and dry her? If she is green she is not ready. Most people go out to around 80 or so days. Keep and eye on you techs to see color change. Cut it down when the color matches the high you want!

how do i know when the girls are ready to be cut down? There is a sticky at he top of the page about when you harvest.

how long should i dry? There are multiple drying processes. The one that im going to use is: Your (RH/10)+1= #of days to dry Example. Your humidity is 40% 40/10+1= 5 days

how long should i cure?Depending on your supply and how you want your product to taste, You could cure from 2 days to 2 months! Most people cure for about 10-14 days for best flavor.

Hope this has helped!!!

 

[sugarman1210]

Take a sample, quick dry it and smoke it. Have you checked your trichrome colors? I can see the main leaves at bottom are dying off. This isn't a bad thing, just because of BUD production. A lot of folks will let their leaves mostly die off, but I'm a newbie so I don't know about that. Good luck, plant looks great.

 

[happily]

u want most of the pistils to turn brown. I use a 30 or 60 power microscope about $8 at radio shack to look at trichomes when they mostly cloudy and start to turn brown on a few. I've heard some auto don't turn brown on the trich's though.