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This is my first round with my BRAND NEW LED-Lights from SANlight in Austria. I got myself TWO EVO4-120 fixtures for my HOMEBOX Ambient Q120 growtent, which has an area of 120 x 120 cm. The new EVO4-120 looks AMAZING, reminds me a little bit of a spaceship. I also got myself two magnetic dimmers for the LED-fixtures, so I can control the amount of light my plants get.
Then I went into my 'treasure-chest', where I keep my genetic gems I collected over the years and selected the strains I want to grow this cycle.
My good friends from CNNBS.nl recommended their SNEEZE (=Amnesia x White Widow) to me, which is produced by seedstockers.nl. Since the parents are two classic strains with copious amounts of trichomes, I am curious how 'white' this variety will come out.
My FAVORITE STRAIN OF ALL TIMES is THE PURPS from BC-BUD-DEPOT. It is a purple variety, which has the aroma and taste of grape jolly-ranchers and is simply DELICIOUS! I won the third place in the Sativa category of the HIGH TIMES CANNABIS CUP 2009 in Amsterdam with it and have grown this strain A LOT...therefore i know it well and it is ideal to see how well the NEW SANlight LEDs work.
SERIOUS SEEDS has a NEW PROMO STRAIN, which is called WHITE DELIGHT (=Mimosa x OG-Kush) and which I am very curious about, therefore i will try two of those seeds next to their classic SERIOUS HAPPINESS (= AK-47 x Warlock). The Happiness is an easy to grow strain, which ALWAYS delivers GREAT results, therefore I had to have it in my tent.
My treasure chest revealed some CHEESE seeds from BIG BUDDHA SEEDS, which are the ORIGINAL seeds from the HIGH TIMES CANNABIS CUP 2006, at which the Cheese won the Indica category and started its now famous legacy! Milo, the breeder from Big Buddha Seeds, gifted those seeds to me directly at the fair of the Cannabis Cup that year and I cant wait to smoke some ORIGINAL CHEESE again.
The BADAZZ-CHEESE (=CHEESE x BADAZZ-KUSH) is a collaboration of Ripper Seeds and Big Buddha and entails the BADAZZ-KUSH from Ripper crossed with the CHEESE from Big Buddha. This variety grows hard compact buds with an insane amount of trichomes, I cant wait to see her in flowering.
The STRAWBERRY SOUR-DIESEL from DEVILHARVESTORIGINAL SEEDS (NOT TO BE MISTAKEN FOR Devils Harvest Seeds, because its a split-off!) and the BIG CANDY from Mr. Hide Seeds have been recommended to me by a good friend, therefore I will give them a try as well.
All seeds are germinated in the 'Serious' Way' promoted by Serious Seeds. It is basically the wet paper-towel method, but instead of leaving the seeds laying on a plate, they are hung inside a plastic baggie, so the roots can grow out STRAIGHT of the seed. I use this methods since years and always have GREAT success with it, therefore I put a little video tutorial together of the germinating method, I hope it can help others.
After germinating the seeds are transplanted into small pots with soil (see tutorial in VIDEO above). The soil is prepared with water mixed with a little bit of BIO NOVA Roots (0,5 ml/l), which aids the development of the seedling. Transplanting is very easy now, because they have grown a STRAIGHT tap-root while hanging during the SERIOUS' WAY of germination. This straight root allows for easy potting of the seeds. Simply make a little hole in the center of the soil with your pinky finger and carefully place the germinated seed with the white root pointing DOWNWARDS into the hole. Best is to lay it onto one side-wall of the hole with the seed shell right at the surface. Then I push the other side inwards and enclose the whole root with soil. At the end only the top of the seed-shell peeks out of the soil. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT to plant the seeds NOT TO DEEP into the soil. The seedling only needs extra strength to work itself upwards thru the soil and you run the risk of the soil drying out and the seed dying off. When you PLANT THE SEED VERY SHALLOW into the soil (=with the top of the seed-shell still peeking out) your seedling can grow out right away and you have a small plant already 24 hours after putting the seed into the soil.
The small seedling sometimes still has the seed-shell on its 'head', it normally falls off by itself, but sometimes you have to carefully help and take it off with your finger nails. Be careful to NOT clip of the seedling accidentally when you do this!
The seed-shall has an inner lining, which feeds the small seedling when it germinates. This inner lining sometimes gets tangled around the stem of the small seedling after the shell has fallen off. This little skin MUST be taken off the stem right away! Once it dries up, it gets hard and can strangulate the seedling around the stem. In order to avoid this, the skin must be taken off as soon as possible! I show it in the pics above and also made a video about taking off the inner lining of the seed.
The plants are developing well in their small pots and are soon ready to be transplanted into their final pots. At this time I water them every day to keep the soil in the pot moist and every second day I add some BIO NOVA ROOTS (at half the recommended strength!) for better root development.
On day 20 after germination the 12 plants are tall enough to be transplanted. The white roots have grown out of the bottom of the small containers and are now ready to go into the 15 liter pots of the AUTOPOT system 'Easy2Grow', which I installed inside my HOMEBOX growtent. The system is VERY EASY to SET UP and is supplied from a 'FLEXITANK'-reservoir. This foldable reservoir holds 100 liters of water and can supply the tent for a week before it needs to be refilled. The AUTOPOT system works via gravity (no pumps required!) and therefore you have the put the reservoir on a table or chair, so it stands higher than the pots it supplies. The system 'Easy2Grow' has trays, which always hold two plant-pots next to each other. Each tray is supplied via a side-hose from the main-hose coming from the reservoir. The tray only lets as much water in as the plants needs and therefore they always have enough water without being overwatered. Each pot comes with two sheets of fabric, which are used as root-stop. One sheet goes into the tray under the pot and one sheet goes into the bottom of the pot itself. Every pot is filled with a 2 cm layer of expanded clay-pebbles for better drainage and then filled up with Lightmix from Goldlabel.nl and then watered, so the soil is moist . Then the small seedlings are transplanted carefully into pre-dug holes in the center of the soil in the 15 liter pots. I make sure the soil is pushed inwards well so it encloses the root-ball of the seedling from all sides and the roots can continue to grow well into the new soil. At the end I give a little water with BIO NOVA Roots onto the top of the soil around the transplanted seedling, this helps them very much.
Inside my HOMEBOX grow-tent I hang the two SANlight EVO4-120 lamps following the producers recommendation. The two lamps are hung 30 cm above the top of the plants and at a distance of 70 cm to each other (=25 cm to the side-walls). Both lamps have to be tilted inwards by 11 degrees. The tilting works vie the 'EASY-TO-TILT' system from SANlight. The LED fixtures have 5 holes in the top of their frame where you hang them up. Depending on which hole you use, the lamp gets tilted automatically. In my case I have to use the hole next to the center hole and then the lamp tilts inwards by 11 degrees.
Since the young plants do not need that much light, the LEDs are dimmed to 40 % with the magnetic dimmer on the side of the lamp (the dimmer is sold separately from the lamp!).
Now I will let them root into the bigger containers fro a few days and then switch to flowering (=12/12 hours of light/darkness).
Three days after transplanting the seedlings into their final pots, the timer I use in the supply of my SANlight EVO4-120 LEDs was set 12/12 hours of light/darkness in order to induce flowering. The plants continue to grow VERY WELL inside the AUTOPOT system under the EVO4-120 LEDs from SANlight. The front row with 4 'The Purps' plants from BC-BUD-DEPOT have developed HUGE leaves already and they have a nice healthy color. The runt right now is the Serious Happiness from Serious Seeds in the left back corner, she is my smallest plant at this moment. All 12 plants together are starting to fill out the HOMEBOX growtent nicely and make a nice canopy.
In order to ensure a proper stretch of the plants during this phase I still have the EVO4-120 LEDs dimmed to 40% of power, that is plenty of light for the beginning of flowering.
Since the Light-mix from Goldlabel.nl has already nutrients in it, I dont have to feed the plants via the water yet.
At the end of week 4 I filled up the FLEXITANK reservoir for the first time with WATER AND BIO NOVA NUTRIENTS.
I follow the SOIL-SCHEDULE from the website of Bio Nova: https://bionovanutrients.com/media/4a/2b/a5/1602346623/BIONOVA-druk-Soil-fertilization-plan-EN-NL-ES-FR-IT-PT.pdf , but I ONLY USE HALF OF THE RECOMMENDED DOSE at this point.
All 12 plants are THRIVING under the two EVO4-120 LED-lights from SANlight. They all have a nice healthy green color, which shows that the BIO NOVA nutrients work well. During week 5 the plants start to show their sex. The male plants start to develop male pollen sacks at the nodes (looks like a little ball on a tiny stem) and the female plants grow their first female pistils (=little fuzzy white hair growing out of the node). As soon as I see white hairs appearing on a plant, I am relieved it is a female plant, because the male plants are useless for me and have to be culled. Right now two of the four 'The Purps' plants from BC-BUD-Depot look like they are male, as soon as I am sure, I will take them out of my HOMEBOX grow-tent and destroy them (=throw them in the garbage inside a plastic bag, so I am sure no male pollen can escape).
In week 6 my HOMEBOX growtent has filled up so much, that I need to defoliate the plants. I take them out one by one and take off all lower branches (that dont get enough light) and all leaves of the lower part of the plant. I also take off most of the bigger fan-leaves of the top part of each plant, so the light can penetrate deeper into the canopy. I also add stakes and a plant-holder-ring to each pot, so the bigger plants are supported for better growth. You can see the difference in the BEFORE AND AFTER pics above. Two PURPS-plants from BC-BUD-Depot turned out to be male and have been discarded. Into one of the empty spots I put a small plant of BLUE MINT from Mountain High Seeds as replacement. The other spot stays empty. I simply put a tray into the open spot, so the water is not in the light and no algea grows in my autopot system. The watering via the Flexitank-reservoir works very well. Once a week I fill the reservoir with water mixed with BIO NOVA nutrients, following the SOIL-CULTIVATION schedule of BIO NOVA. Since the EC of my tap water is very high (comes out with EC=1,0 already) I can only add a lower amount of nutrients, therefore I use the BIO NOVA schedule at HALF strength. My babies LOVE the light from the EVO4-120 LED-fixtures from SANlight, they THRIVE under it! At this stage my two lamps are dimmed to 80% (=two green lights are ON, on the dimmer at side of lamp) and hang at a distance of 30 cm from the top of the plants. Now after the defoliation the airflow through the tent is much better and the light can also get to the lower parts of the plant. This way the flowering can continue with an enhanced grow of the buds.
During week 7 all remaining plants grow tremendously in height and start to develop nice white flower crowns. All have a healthy green color, which means the BIO NOVA nutrients work well. At this stage my two SANlight EVO4-120 LEDs are dimmed to 100% (=THREE GREEN lights ON on the magnetic dimmer at the side of the lamp, see pics). They hang at 30 cm from the top of the plants and are tilted inwards by 11 degrees. One 'The PURPS'-plant from BC-BUD-DEPOT and the STRAWBERRY-SOUR-DIESEL from Devilharvestoriginal Seeds have grown so tall, that I need to super-crop the plants. I take the stem appr. 25 cm from the top, right above a node, and press the stem until I feel the fibers inside brake, then I BEND the stem until it points downwards or at least 90 degrees sidewards. This way I can stop the upward growth without having to top the plant. The bend will heal and the stem will turn upwards again and then the top buds can still develop nicely. This technique is called super-cropping and is promoted by SOMA from SOMA-Seed, I LOVE to do it and have made the best experiences with it.
The two super-cropped plants healed up nicely and have grown more bushier in week 8. The top of the main-stem is showing sidewards now and the buds on it have turned upwards, towards the lights. The two SANlight EVO4-120 are dimmed to 100% and hang 30 cm above the top of the plants at this stage. My genetic gems LOVE the spectrum and intensity of these LED-fixtures and grow like hell under them, its amazing to see. The BIO-NOVA nutrients are still given at half strength from their recommended SOIL-CULTIVATION schedule and the plants have a nice healthy green color. Only the CHEESE-plant from BIG BUDDHA SEEDS starts to show some symptoms of overfeeding (gets rust brown spots and yellow leaf-tips). I will have to keep an eye on this plant. The amount of flower-crowns that are developing now is ASTOUNDING! In the close-up pics of the flower-crowns you can see, that the trichome production has started already! The plants start to smell more now and I can't wait for them to get the fruity aroma I expect.
During week 9 the flowering continued nicely and all plants developed nice flower crowns. Unfortunately I spotted some brown pistils on some plants and at this stage that only can mean they have been inseminated by pollen. Since I have no male plants around I thoroughly inspect the nodes of all plants from bottom to top. I am searching for hidden male pollen-sacks that have grown on my female plants and sure enough I find several ripe and open pollen sacks on three plants. This means those plants ARE HERMAPHRODITES, plants that have BOTH SEXES, they are female plants that also grow male pollensacks...my ABSOLUTE HORROR! The open pollen sacks have released pollen onto the female pistils around them and this turned the pistils brown. Where those fertilized pistils are, seeds will now start to grow inside the buds of my grow. 😢 After spraying water over the plants, in order to neutralize the free pollen inside, I carefully cut off the hermie-plants on the main stem right above the soil and immediately discard them far away from my grow-tent into the trash. Since I spotted the hermies early, I hope my grow will not be fully seeded, but only have a few seeds grow in some buds here and there. My fingers are crossed!
My 'CHEESE'-plant from BIG BUDDHA SEEDS has turned a little yellow and developed some dark spots on the leaves, which I attribute to the plant standing alone in a tray now. She seems to be overfed a little and getting too much water to the roots. I therefore take her out of the water for a few days, in order to let the medium dry out a little and let the roots get some air.
The SANlight EVO4-120 LED-lights work like a treat. They are now running at 100% dimm-level and are hung 30 cm above the top of the plants.
The BIO NOVA nutrients are still given at half strength of the recommended dose and some plants seem to be overfed...I have to keep an eye on them.
In week 10 all remaining plants developed well, they have a healthy green color and grow copious amounts of new flowers every day. The trichome production has been going strong as well, therefore the plants start to smell stronger than before. The BLUE-MINT plant from Mountain High Seeds is going strong... she grows so many trichomes it has started to build so called RESIN RAILS on the fan-leaves...so AWESOME to see! 😍 The tallest plant is the Strawberry Sour-Diesel from OriginalDevilHarvest-Seeds. Even after being supper-cropped she grows taller every day! She also developes FAT and DANK buds on all branches with a HUGE AMOUNT of trichomes. The smell of this plant is VERY LEMONY, its so fruity and mouthwatering, I cant wait for her to be finished. The Serious Happiness from Serious Seeds does well, she also has big buds with lots of trichomes. The SNEEZE from Cnnbs.nl and Seedstockers is doing GREAT! She has a tremendous amount of trichomes on her buds, and has fat colas on all sidebranches.
The nutrients from BIO NOVA work VERY WELL...all plants are doing GREAT.
At this stage of flowering the SANlight EVO4-120 LEDs are dimmed to 100% and hang at 30 cm distance of the top of the plants. My genetic treasures LOVE the intensity and spectrum of those LEDs as you can see in the pics.
Unfortunately I spot some traces on my leaves and discover some THRIPS on the backside of my fan-leaves. This insects eat away on the plant-sap and can decrease your harvest, if the infestation gets too much. Therefore I immediately order some bags with predator insects against THRPS from KOPPERT and hang them on each plant. These predators are the natural enemies and will eat the THRIPS from my plants.
During week 11 my treasures are doing AWESOME! The flower development is AMAZING and the TRICHOME PRODUCTION is in FULL SWING! The plants are GLISTENING with TRICHOMES...I love it! 😍 This is the best proof that the new LEDs from SANlight, the EVO-series, work GREAT and that the spectrum and intensity of the lamps is PERFECT for GROWING CONNOISSEUR CANNABIS! The plants are nearing the end of their flowering cycle and need to be FLUSHED now. This means I STOP GIVING ANY NUTRIENTS and only water them with ph-neutralized (ph=6,0) water with some enzymes from now on. This will make sure the plant uses up all nutrients it has left in the soil and in the leaves and starts to get yellow. Only a plant that is properly flushed and FREE OF NUTRIENTS can later be smoked well. An unflushed plant will have a HARSH FEELIN IN THE THROAT when smoked and will burn to very black ash, while a FLUSHED PLANT smokes smooth and leaves grey ashes behind. Only FLUSHED CANNABIS is PROPER MEDICINAL CANNABIS, which I am growing here for myself!
My problem with THRIPSE has gone away as well, the predator insects from KOPPERT have done a fine job and have eliminated the pest.
The aroma of the plants is FANTASTIC now, a strong sweet smell is coming out of my tent every time I open it...👍😎
I cant wait until the plants are finished and ready to harvest...😃
During week 12 all plants continue to get ripe and the leaves get more and more yellow fade. This is a good thing at this point, since that means the plants are FLUSHED properly and all BIO NOVA nutrients and sugars inside the plant-matter are used up. ONLY A WELL FLUSHED PLANT SMOKES SMOOTHLY WHEN DRIED!!! Since I plan to smoke these buds as my medicinal cannabis against my chronic back pain, I am extra keen on well flushed buds!
All my genetic treasures GLISTEN WITH TRICHOMES NOW! Its a beautiful sight and makes me smile every time I see them. The aroma coming from the tent is overwhelmingly strong now and makes my mouth water.
Since almost all the pistils have turned brown now, it is time to check the trichomes, if the plants are ready to harvest.
I take a hand-held microscope and carefully look at a top-bud. The trichome-heads I see, are all milky now and some of them have turned amber. Thats the perfect time to harvest, since its PEAK-THC now. When all trichome heads have turned milky the THC-content is at its highest, when they start to turn amber, THC breaks down again. The more AMBER TRICHOMES you have, the MORE SEDATIVE a plant gets and then it will make you MORE SLEEPY when you smoke it.
The SANlight EVO4-120 LEDs have done an OUTSTANDING JOB!
The quality and amount of top-grade medicinal buds I have grown under them is MUCH BETTER THAN UNDER HPS.
I can only STRONGLY RECOMMEND the SANlight LEDs...the new EVO-series works GREAT!
At the end of week 12 (=after 9 weeks of flowering) its time TO HARVEST MY GENTIC TREASURES!
THE PURPS from BC-BUD-DEPOT was grown from regular seeds, therefore I had to take out three males of the 4 seeds that germinated and grew into plants. In the end I only had one female plant, but she was A BEAUTY! She had a purple coloration in the main tops and stems and was COVERED IN TRICHOMES! The smell is very sweet and reminds me of grape jolly ranchers, which is brand of hard-candy sweets. I LOVE THE AROMA OF THE PURPS! Her aroma also transcends directly into the taste when smoked, on the inhale and exhale you have a wonderful sweet grape aroma. This one plant harvested 55 gram of dried bud of the HIGHEST QUALITY!
The one plant of SERIOUS HAPPINESS (=AK-47 x Warlock) from SERIOUS SEEDS I have grown in this round did very well. She was easy to grow and had a PERFECT GROWTH-STRUCTURE with lots of side branches and perfect internode distances. The whole plant grow compact buds everywhere, forming a big cola on the main branch. The tops where GLISTENING WITH TRICHOMES and exuded an intoxicating sweet smell. The aroma when smoked is slightly sweet with hints of berries and makes my mouth water when I think about it.
The one plant harvested 52 gram of dried bud of the highest medicinal quality.
This one plant of CHEESE from BIG BUDDHA SEEDS was grown from the ORIGINAL SEEDS from the HIGH TIMES CANNABIS CUP 2006 in Amsterdam. Gifted to me by Milo, the breeder of BIG BUDDHA SEEDS, right before he won the INICA CUP with the strain and started its worldwide legacy.
I love to grow this strain, unfortunately I ran into some nutrient problems with this plant. My PH-meter was not calibrated correctly and I overfed the plant with a solution of 5,0...this made the leaves go crispy and start a yellowing in week 5 of flowering. In order to save her I flushed her pot well with lots of water and then stopped giving nutrients all together. This diminished the development and finally the harvest weight substantially!
The one plant harvested only 48 gram of dried bud (normally Cheese is a good harvester!)
The quality of the buds was OUTSTANDING...very dense nugs with looooooooots of trichomes and sooooooooo delicious to smoke. Typical oldschool CHEESE aroma and taste!
The one plant of BADAZZ-CHEESE (=BADAZZ-Kush x CHEESE) from BIG BUDDHA SEEDS I grew in this round turned out to be a real genetic gem! She grows wonderfully in veg. with lots of side-branching and a perfect internode-distance. The amount of budding sites she creates is ASTOUNDING! All side branches and the main branch form big colas with rock hard buds in flowering...in one word: DANK! The buds are literally COVERED IN TRICHOMES and sticky as hell...when you slightly touch them, your fingers are glued together afterwards!
Her smell is strong and the aroma is intense. A VERY STRONG KUSH AROMA, very gassy and simply DELICIOUS!
The potency is outrageous! She has a VERY STRONG MEDICINAL EFFECT, which is sedating and takes away my chronic back pain immediately.
Due to her strong sedating effect, she is a PURE NIGHTTIME SMOKE to me!
I LOVE THIS STRAIN AS MEDICINE!
The one plant I grew harvested 66 grams of dried shiny buds of EXCELLENT MEDICINAL QUALITY!
This single plant of Mr. BIG CANDY grew VERY WELL. She had a big internode distance and had to be super-cropped. The amount of DENSE and BIG BUDS she grows is AMAZING! All side-branches and the main-branch have HUGE BUDS covered with a THICK LAYER OF TRICHOMES! During flowering she developes a BEAUTIFUL PURPLE COLORATION in ALL BUDS and produces copious amounts of crystals. The aroma is strong and VERY SWEET, like a sweet hard-candy...simply DELICIOUS! The dried buds smoke experience is FANTASTIC! The sweet aroma stays on in the taste when smoked, on the inhale as well as the exhale, which is rare and a WONDERFUL TREAT!
I LOVE TO SMOKE THIS STRAIN AS MY MEDICINE ALL AY LONG!
She takes away my chronic back pain and lets me stay clear in my head and do all my daily work without any problems.
The one plant of Mr. BIG CANDY harvested 66 grams of dried bud, which is an excellent result!
The one plant of STRAWBERRY SOUR DIESEL from OriginalDevilHarvest-Seeds in my HOMEBOX tent turned out GREAT! The plant grew very tall with a big internode distance and had to be super-cropped. All side branches and the main branch developed a huge amount of buds of the highest quality. the buds are growing dense and some get a slight purple coloration. She produces an immense amount of trichomes on all flowers, which have a high terpene content, because the plant smells VERY STRONG! The WONDERFUL AROMA reminds me of lemons and is very citrusy...I LOVE IT! The lemon aroma carries through when smoked. She definitely tastes like lemons when smoked, on the in and the exhale!
The one plant harvested 42 grams of CONNOISSEUR QUALITY BUD with the most delicious aroma and taste you can imagine!
The plant of SNEEZE (=Amnesia x White Widow) from CNNBS.nl and Seedstockers was the BIGGEST YIELDER in this grow. The one plant harvested 70 grams of dried bud of an OUTSTANDING QUALITY. The buds are dense and COVERED IN TRICHOMES...truly white and DANK!
She grows well in veg. and has lots of side branches, which all develop big heads. The buds grow dense and produce insane amount of trichomes.
This BLUE MINT plant from MOUNTAIN HIGH SEEDS was added late to this grow, because it was a replacement for a culled male plant. She was considerably smaller than the rest when she was added, which explains the little harvest amount at the end. She harvested the least amount of all plants with 34 grams of dried bud from this single small plant.
The amount of resin she produces is INSANE! Even the big fan leaves get trichomes on their edges and develop RESIN RAILS, its AMAZING to see.
She is covered and covered in trichomes!
During veg. she has a dark green, which turns almost blue in flowering.
The main bud got an amazing purple coloration and was DENSE and ROCK HARD at the end.
A truly WONDERFUL variety.
GrownwithLED
