Tarantula Genetics Strawberry Dreams

Long story as to why 3 weeks are missing but to get ya'll caught up, this is the survivor of a pack of 10 Regular Strawberry Dreams (Perma Dream x Strawberries & Cream) I'd gotten from a newer breeder out of Michigan. Told breeder about germination issue and was given a compensation pack of 10 Regular Strawberry Grape Smoothie that I will test later this year/into next. Was a rough patch and I didn't want to start a diary on something that fails to grow, so I finessed this poor thing back to health and here we are. This plant did not do well in water soak part of the germination process I use, neither did it take well in soil but after weeks of limping around, it has finally decided to thrive like the rest of the plants its around. I usually don't fail very often at germinating seeds, my issue is usually, getting taste and aroma profiles in my buds. I grow plants, not just Cannabis but Rose's and such so I kinda figured genetics with these seeds but I could be wrong. This will be an interesting grow as Autumn is already here and my space, well, it has 3 other vegging and one flowering plant in it already..light will be less than optimal but once flowering plant is harvested, I will add another Mars Hydro 150watt LED. Hope plants do well in mid 60°F days and low 50s at night with almost no humidity though.

No issues. Tarantula is growing well this week. This Strawberry Dreams is kind of unique in my book so far. Huge, fat, but wispy thin leaves that contrast to other plants in my micro-grow. But those leaves though. This is why weeks 2 and three are my favorites out of all stages of growth, including flowering. It's also make or break for most growers around this time as well but I don't forsee any issues except the 2 day transplant slowdown. I'd really like to slam this plant with ferts but I'm starting to see problems with my Fox Farm soil, PH dips to 4.5 overnight after watering (water is PHd 7) and slurries show 999ppm so roots are making soil very acidic. Day or so later, PH goes back to 6.1 or so as it dries. Anyways. There's my tidbit midweek.

Strong week for this plant. This photo is actually start of week 7 for this plant but because of it being the only plant of 12 to survive and had several issues from the jump. I'm trying to get this journal back up to date according to true birth date.

Went to a 1.9 gallon pot as massive amounts of roots were protruding from drainage and I was watering every day! It's darkened substantially but still much lighter than other strains and last night's room inspection, I also saw a tiny pistil preflower! I also chopped my Jack herer autoflower at 13 weeks so my space now has room for plants to stretch a bit more. This SD plant(I'm going to call it) is going to get HUGE as it's expressing almost 50/50 indica-sativa and to be honest might not have the light or the room but I might have to get these autos finished and then breed my remaining photos? Also, when mixing a batch of soil for my repot, I used FFOF, sterilized oak ash and Dr. Earths Tree and Nut dry amendment. I like using these amendments as I've noticed this soil PH gets quite acidic and by using dry amendments, I go easier on ferts and the ash keeps soil closer to base. I love using wood ash!

Solid is all I can say about this plant! When lights come on from a 5 hour break, this plant is kinda droopy from watering the nights before but within hours stands to attention no problem. Strain said its Perma Dream x Strawberries and cream which would give this strain much more sativa traits as both strains are 75/25 sativa dominant respectively. But these fan leaves are super wide!? I have fun watching this plant day to day and cannot wait for the other autos in the room to finish, flip to 12/12 and use this SD female to cross with the male Indica bagseed I've grown fond of(thing is almost 3ft tall and only maybe 10" wide, with node spacing of less than an inch). We'll see. No 5-1-1 fish emulsion was used this week and went with a dilute solution of GH 10-5-15 MaxiGro, Hydroguard and Sweet Raw as this plant will still have fertilizer from recent transplant in FFOF, potash and bone meal. This drink made soil PH drift from 6.3 to 6 within a day or two but this is to be expected as I hardly ever water until a slurry comes out the bottom. Next week I will be adding carbs to the soil by means of hydrolysates and proteins to help aide root zone biology and root growth.

I really should bust out the time lapse camera next time I grow this strain! It is by far the most responsive and active plant I've ever seen or grown! It does not like to be underwatered, under lit and under fed. I decided to feed chemical this week and used Maxigro and a bit more Cal-Mag along with a few drops of Floralicious Plus. Water from Recerse Osmosis has been awfully acidic lately @ 5.0-5.5 so I've had to PH individual watering cups. Doing this, plant responded well when adding a small heater to the room, temps have been cool and humid lately. I'm just mesmerized as to how this plant is supposed to be a sativa dominant but yet has surprisingly Indica, Kush-like fan leaves. Every day this plant grows almost 2 inches with no stopping except the last hour of light, then it looks like it's overwatered but not as badly as other strains in room. It has, for its age, the most vibrant growth I've seen in any strain or species of plant I've personally ever grown(except my brand sweet corn, yeah...I grow corn/maize!). I have also noticed much improvement in growth and overall vibrancy of my room by adding a 120watt Mars Hydro light, colors have darkened and you can literally watch this girl go through her processes now that light is nearly 3.1 ųMol per sq. Ft and more lumens than this plant needs! Next week she'll be tall enough to be put on the floor and allowed to stretch more.

Busted out a new soil analyzer, used it on another plants pot that has been having issues, 7PH. Last weeks transplant and used of PHd 7 water worked and cleared my calcium/magnesium lockout but now causing autoflowers and bagseed to grow a bit more slowly. As far as this SD plant, it's still seeing 6.0-.6.15 steady and that's why this plant is bangin' through early vegetation quickly. I've also caught this problem early with this plant and have gone way down on ferts and water amounts. Each afternoon when this plants fan leaves start to look a bit drab, one full cup of straight RO with a quarter tsp. Maxigrow, let that dissolve, fizzle the water and turn pp yellow, 1.5mL Sweet Raw and 2mL Hydrogurad, stir and add by feeder syringe. I'm pretty sure soil is fine too as bot lh my soil readers show 6 and 7 respectively on all pots(should be, same soil, same nutes) but you can literally see plants that I've overfed, this SD plantbis not one of them so soil is well buffered. I'm also scrambling to raise the lights to get all 5 plants good top coverage but the more I raise the lights, the more I see nodes and lateral braching stretch. Definitely not an auto or Indica Dominant. Bought some #2 2.6Gal pots today, will sterilize and coat with copper sulfate and mix up some Ocean Forest with a bit of silica sand, tiny bit of Oak wood ash and also new, Dr. Earths Blood Meal with whats left of my Tree and Nut dry amendments from same company. Have had alot of good results with these mix in or too dress fertilizers, buds are much more dank than when using chemical ferts! I will most likely cut out the maxigro, start using Brier Rabbit Blackstrap Molasses, keep using Floralicious Plus and the Botanicaire line and back with the Alaska Fish Fertilizer, all just in much lighter amounts!! Blood Meal will make this plant HUGE and FAT...just remember...be super skimpy on the amounts used!

Might keep this plant in its 1.25gal container for a while longer for several reasons really. One being, it's growing better than most at its age by keeping it's old fan leaves nice and green. Two, it has vigorous growth, every day and if I miss a feeding..she tells me! I'd rather have to water every day rather than transplant into something bigger and then stunt it or have it grow out of control! I'm riding a very fine line in this grow room for several reasons as well. The complexity of this grow is getting close to becoming unmanageable as it is, so as the days go on, I will be shortening days by increments of 15 mins at both ends to A)Induce Flower in Photos and B)Keep veg growth even keel as 3 plants have stretch phase left. Realistically, I only have two more ft. Vertically to work with so unfortunately, with the number of plants in my room, this plants veg will be cut a bit short but at almost 3ft, all good! I might have to invest in another full spectrum LED and separate this SD and put it along with the male Bagseed Indica come end of November/December or maybe I will pay attention to pollen sacs and prune days before opening? All i know is that I cannot describe the crispness and lightness of the air in this room around noon and lights out! It's like going into a florist's showcase, not quite fresh cut perennials and annuals but more flowering bouquets and fruit produce, especially when my 150watt mini ceramic heater kicks in! (One major downside of LED) Node length with this strain is an issue though, 2.25" is a bit much. Ideally, 1" is perfect in my situations but breeding this with more Indica traits can take care of that. I just hope I don't create a sh*t strain with this strawberry Dreams, the smoke otherwise might be primo but that's a chance I'm willing to take at this point. Side branching is very stretchy at maybe 4" between nodes at lower terminal branches but appear more than sturdy to hold buds. Missing anything?

Ran out of room horizontally but this fine plant is growing inches away from my main veg light with no problems. Growth has been phenomenal! No burning or deficiencies. Slowly shortening days by 15 minutes and am ordering a custom 120v IR and UV light board to more accurately represent the suns phases, hopefully pumping thc up from my full spectrum flower routine.

Not as many photos these past few weeks because this and harvest are the most non-eventful. However, I can add that this variety of cannabis is EXTREMELY robust and vibrant despite light, nutrient and medium constraints! I get why growth is slowing; I've introduced far-red for EOD and BOD 15 minute regiments and I'm slowly decreasing light lengths instead of flipping(I don't want to stress out other plants in room). This is fine with me as not only this plant outgrown its area horizontally, I have roughly 20% vertical space remaining which should work out with flowering stretch. I didn't want to put flowering in this weeks journal despite obvious maturity(pistils are kool-aide red), the transition is slow but the past 3 days have been slow-er than past month. Lots of very lime green new growth which I've associated with a tad bit of light bleaching but actual leaves themselves show no signs of anything, I go back to when this plant was weeks old...it was very lime green then too so Boron, Molybdenum and Magnesium issues are out of the window. Same with iron. This plant is just fine but could use some UVa baths to pull out those phenotypical traits, a couple more days and my custom built board will be added to this room for 6hr increments. Otherwise, all is good. I could transplant but it's not showing it's rootbound. I could also raise my lights, I probably will tonight even though I've grown other plants 1" away with zero burn(around the led edges). I also have been feeding with McCormick(must be an old-school midwest thing) Strawberry Extract and as usual been seeing the plant respond, especially with "oops, too much" moments when using the blackstrap molasses! This micro area has a very humid(despite 45%Rh), dank, floral smell and when doing the rub test; this plant has a very fruity pungency to it. I like using molasses all the way through as when buds are harvested are much more dense, stay humid longer and have much more sugary kief. Rambling. Next week will have the 365nm UV, the results will blow your mind! Until then. Couldn't figure out the extreme lime green new growth despite almost perfect growing conditions all around, concluded light bleaching but never thought N or Iron deficiency. After transplanting, roots were pearl white, no rotting spots and very little soil showing. Good thing I amended heavily with 5-3-3 and 4-15-12 dry amendments and that blood meal I bought weeks back...3 days later the darker green is coming back! Lots of growth and it has a very distinct strawberry candy aromas when watered and when surrounding air is humid. I have also stopped using my 150w ceramic heater, temps hover 76°F to 80°F day and stay constant 66-68° nights. This plant has almost ideal growing conditions and you can see it's now focusing energy to forming sturdy bud sites. 2 more weeks until full blown flower 12/12 cycle but I cannot wait for this heatsink to get here for this UV light I've sourced. This girl has the structure..

I can't stress enough how aggressive some plants are when it comes to needing insoluble nutrients! I was seeing light bleaching and yellowing of new leaves, thinking it was heat and light intensity. After transplant into much bigger pot with heavy amendments and a few days time, plant is fully green and almost as tall as I am! Pistils are pink/red/white. Aroma is quite subtle yet but doesn't have the typical Marijuana scent, more like handling a literal strawberry plant and those strawberry candies that have the gel inside when the room gets humid after watering. Structure is sturdy but side branches have stretched alot. I feel that this plant will have fewer budsites but those flowers will grow full and dense. I can't wait but will give this plant maybe another week of veg light hours. I'm at 13 right now and with the recent addition of a 24W UVa bar I custom made and the Emerson Effect still, transition should be quick but I honestly don't know...maybe my spectrums are keeping this plant vegging? Idk All I know is this is an awesome plant that really has no issues still but now I know to keep up on fertilizers. 1.5" of vertical growth each day and plant keeps showing me each morning that it wants more water and ferts! Every day, full strength nutes and it doesn't burn! I am seeing very clear runoff so ferts are sticking and being used while the Molasses is chelating whatever might runoff. This is good!! PH stable right above 6@ feedings, next day down to 5.95. I just can't get over the never ending changes in aromas this plant gives off; today being fresh HoneyCrisp apples! I took off 30 minutes off lighting schedule so now the rest of this week should be fast, then slow. We might see pom-poms next week.

Plant grew so much vertically each day that I was forced to LST the top of this SD female. I still believe that there will be at least 5" of preflower stretch in these next few days. I will try to tie and work tops so that they don't hit the light as I've run out of height to raise it. Now, as we start flowering hours, you can see the 70/30 Sativa dominance...old girl is 1.5 months younger than the male Indica next to it and dwarfs everything(including me!) In room!! Makes it hard to feed/maintain let alone take photographs...makes me bend weird and kills the arthritis in my back:'( Anyways, this plant will get pollinated in attempt to massage more indica traits into genepool...not much fan of wasted node space, stretchy sativas. However, to this plants defense, it is extremely vigorous and an absolute pig on nutrients! I could see commercial implications already for this strain...almost feels "designer" as it responds favorably to things like Molasses, eggshells, neem oil(fungus gnat population zero now!), flavorings/extracts. It may be a placebo effect but if you were here you would see what I'm talking about! I've never smelled pot that doesn't have pot smells to it. This plant smells like those juicy strawberry candies on a hot day! No stink!! Its weird but as we're now in flowering, I wonder how much Nitrogen she will still need all the way until last couple weeks (~20/21 weeks) especially trying to get viable seeds but still smokable buds. Those and I wanted to point out the value of Far Red/IR & UVa, it may seem anecdotal but as weeks fly by, responses are visual and justifyable. Even other plants in room are responding in their own ways to these spectrums of light.

Had to tie down top late last week. Plant just outgrew space! Taking it's time preflowering... Transitioned to bloom ferts but am still using some N ferts. Zero nutrient issues and maybe not using enough nutrients each feeding but plant is more than healthy as is(if it ain't broke, why fix it? mentality). Ph stays steady at 6 as long as I don't use too much molasses or cal-mag in my ro water and trick is to hold it overnight before using-brings a 7.5 to a 5.5 and ferts dissolve much more readily! This plant also likes a more acidic medium as after feeding PH drops to 5.8. Slower to flower than other strains as well. I'm sure this week will have drastic changes!! Just you wait!

Still going strong but in full flower now. Still have no light on top because it stretched past the light. Wrong time to top or HST so tying down was the only choice, lack of light shouldn't limit size of main cola. All I can say is this breeding stuff is very time sensitive and time consuming! Awesome genetics so far, these next several weeks will just get that much more exciting, I just know it! BIG BUDZ on the way!!

Meh, I thought I would be swept off my feet with this strain but to be brutally honest, it's too lanky and actual flowers are sparse. Good thing it wasn't meant for smoke but for breeding stock. Next generations should be a tad more squat with shorter node spacing. Sorry for the lack of photos but seriously, this plant is taking up most of the space available!

Good week. Multiple seed sites after 2 weeks of fertilization. Flowers still growing in size but plant is using most of its resources to give seeds time to mature. This species is light and nutrient hungry as no matter what I give it, it takes... Next round i will use this females offspring and I will use a trellis as well as FIM & Topping. That and i will go much higher in intensity lighting throughout veg and flowering. Plant is showing signs of senescence as fan leaves are yellowing and starting to wither as plant is directing resources to flowers and seeds. I will give this plant many weeks before even thinking of harvest as trichomes are still clear and haven't yet bent, stigmas are still immature and vibrant pink/white. Smells are dank, not sweet like weeks ago. Even with low RH room "feels" sticky and wet and every time I come into the room, I get hit with a heavy cream aroma. As I do rub tests I can't quite describe the scent, not fruity, zesty, lemony, piney, sugary sweet like ecto cooler Hi-C! (Google it Milennial..) like I said, difficult to describe but that's what comes to my mind's eye. Not too impressed any more with this strain as it's sativa dominance kills my Indica-leaning favoritism. Started using Foop brand products week 18.5 or 12/14/21. Aggressive rates. Using PH up to get SOIL PH back to acceptable ranges but each 24 hrs or so PH fluctuates up to almost 6, signaling full bloom and roots are giving off acids. Not worried about the light burn on tops, they are not caused by deficiencies or toxicities so no worries. Just want to pack as much amino acids, carbohydrates and other nutrients so this preggo girl packs on the pounds these last 4-8 weeks. She's weighty already but far from mature. Senescence has just begun..

Plant is in full maturity mode. Not the flowering structure I'd hoped for but still thinking actual buds will be dense and potent. 15% of the tops of this plant have flowers affected by light burn making fan leaves die sooner than normal. Again, this was a breeding round so I'm not too concerned with yield but as many, viable seeds for next go round. Still feeding heavily and showing no stopping the need for water and nutrients. I've never used as much Cal-mag on ANY of my grows as how much I've blasted this plant with! That and phosphorus and potassium nutes! Plant also appears to enjoy 90-2000's hiphop/rap! Lol I leave YouTube on for 4-7 hours each day! That and the UV Light really does make flowers more dense and aromatic.

Like my Purple Haze Auto harvest, I was not impressed by this Strawberry Dreams strain. Veg state of growth was phenomenal but flowering stage was plagued with issues that led to me having to harvest a bit sooner than I would have liked. Breeding this plant probably diminished alot of its potential but mainly light and space restrictions "capped off" this plants true potential...my fault 100%. Lots of seeds grew fully within their bracts. Next season Strawberry dreams/landrace indica... until then. Later