Harvesting for Fresh Frozen: Highigan's 🍉Emoji Chop Day with Cronk Nutrients & AutoPots

Highigan just wrapped up one of the most satisfying grows we've seen — four 🍉Emoji plants, all fed with Cronk Nutrients in AutoPot watering systems, harvested at day 58 and headed straight to the freezer for fresh frozen hash. This livestream is a masterclass in low-maintenance growing that still produces frosty, terpy, purple-fading buds worth turning into live rosin.

Here's everything we learned from chop day.

The Setup: AC Infinity Tents, AutoPots, and Cronk Nutrients

Highigan runs multiple AC Infinity tents in their grow space, and this batch of Emojis was grown in AutoPot watering systems fed with Cronk Nutrients. As they put it during the stream: "We ran the Cronk Nutrients. It's just crazy easy with AutoPots. Literally just mix up the reservoir for a week, let them run."

That's the beauty of the AutoPot + Cronk combo — you mix your nutrients into the reservoir once, and the self-watering system handles the rest. No daily hand-watering, no runoff management, no babysitting pH swings. Just consistent feeding on autopilot.

The one lesson from this run? Don't let the reservoir run dry. Highigan mentioned that some plants got crinkly leaves after a dry-out that never fully recovered. The buds were still fire, but the foliage took a hit. Keep that res topped up.

The 🍉Emoji Strain: S1 Testers from Dakota

These Emoji plants were S1 testers bred by Dakota in Colombia. Out of the five they grew, about two showed some nanner tendencies early on — which is expected at the S1 stage. As Highigan explained, when you're working with S1 genetics, you're going to get some wild cards. That's just part of the breeding process.

But even with the occasional hermie trait, every single plant produced smokeable, beautiful flower. The terp profile was consistently described as "juicy" — watermelon, grapefruit, berry, with hints of lemonade and even a touch of licorice on certain phenotypes.

Harvest Day: Plant by Plant

The process was straightforward. They'd already gone through the plants on a previous Patreon livestream and pulled the best top nugs for smoking. Everything else? Straight to fresh frozen.

Plant by plant, they stripped the large fan leaves without trichomes, kept the sugar-coated trim, and bagged everything up for the freezer. The goal was simple: preserve as many trichomes as possible for a bubble hash wash later in the week.

Key observations from each plant:

• Plant #1 (Front Right): Amazing terps, super juicy watermelon smell. Described as the most "emoji" of the bunch.
• Plant #2: Big chunky buds, smelled incredible. One of the favorites.
• Plant #3: Had some crinkled leaves from the reservoir dry-out, but buds still came out frosty.
• Plant #4: The last one harvested, surprisingly juicy with eucalyptus notes. Strong terps despite being an underdog.

The Purple Fade: Why These Buds Wash Purple

One of the standout features of this run was the color. Multiple plants showed deep purple coloring on the undersides of buds while staying green on top — a stunning two-tone effect. Highigan suspected (and we agree) that these buds are going to wash purple, meaning the resulting hash will carry that anthocyanin-rich coloring.

The trichome check under the microscope showed mostly cloudy heads with a few clears — right in the sweet spot for harvesting. Day 58 was a bit of a stretch from their ideal (they estimated the plants were probably ready around day 50), but the delay was intentional to shoot their signature bud spin videos.

Fresh Frozen: Why They're Freezing Everything

Fresh frozen is exactly what it sounds like — instead of drying and curing your harvest, you freeze the fresh plant material immediately after chop. This preserves the volatile terpenes and trichome heads in their most pristine state, which makes for significantly better bubble hash and live rosin.

Highigan's approach was no-frills: trim the fans, bag the rest, straight into the freezer. They even joked about using grocery bags instead of expensive turkey bags (the chat had opinions about that). Their reasoning? The material will be washed before any freezer burn becomes an issue.

They recently did their first full wash and press with Joe from Basement Grow Show, and it got them hooked. Now everything that isn't saved for smoking goes to the freezer.

Spin Shots: The Bud Photography

If you follow Highigan, you know their bud spin shots are next level. They photograph each plant's best buds on a rotating platform with a black background, creating these mesmerizing 360° videos that really showcase the trichome coverage and color.

The Emoji spins from this batch are particularly impressive — deep purple sugar leaves, frosted green calyxes, and those signature orange pistil hairs creating a beautiful contrast. As they said: "I could just watch these all day."

What's Next for Highigan

After clearing out the Emoji tent, Highigan is planning a full reset: new tent, new AutoPot setup, switching to photos for the next run. They've also got Sour Diesel plants at day 58 in another tent that are coming along, plus plans to try some unreleased Soulfire FX3 crosses.

They're also looking at outdoor hash washing setups as the weather gets colder, and dreaming big about their barn renovation — a dedicated grow space, office area, and eventually a full greenhouse for both cannabis and vegetables.

Key Takeaways for Home Growers

• AutoPots + Cronk Nutrients = hands-off growing. Mix your reservoir once a week and let the system do the work. It doesn't get easier than that.
• Don't let your reservoir run dry. Plants can recover from a lot, but crinkled leaves from drought stress won't bounce back even after rewatering.
• S1 genetics can surprise you. Even with some hermie tendencies, these S1 Emoji testers produced gorgeous, terpy flower that's more than worth growing.
• Fresh frozen is the move if you're interested in making your own hash or rosin. Freeze immediately after chop to preserve terpenes and trichome integrity.
• Day 50-58 is the window for strains like Emoji. Check your trichomes — mostly cloudy is your signal.
• Keep your sugar leaves. When everything goes to fresh frozen, those trichome-covered sugar leaves are just as valuable as the buds themselves.

Want to run the same nutrient setup? Check out Cronk Nutrients — the same lineup Highigan uses in their AutoPot grows.