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Weeks 1 and 2 of germination for:
Wedding Cake Auto (Barney's Farm)
Strawberry Banana Gelato XL (Sweet Seeds)
Forbidden Runtz (Fast Buds)
Seeds soaked for about 8 hours in a glass jar half filled with water - then transferred to small pots in grow tent. Light on 'veg' for 24 hours. Given that it's just the veg lights and not consuming many watts I figure it's best to just leave it on rather than mess around with timers, etc (one less thing to worry about!)
Added a drop of Bio Bizz 'Bio Grow' to pots before germinating to dampen the soil (say half or a quarter of a glass) and noticed that they all seemed to kick off pretty quickly - or it's just me? Either way, a good start for these three strains. 1 Forbidden Runtz was a bit stubborn and refused to pop - but another soak in water and it popped just fine.
All 3 were kept under a grow-light for 14 days and then transferred outside. Why? Because the birds living in the roof have, with some regularity in the past, come down and eaten any small seed that's just sprouting. It's a painful sight, but I can hardly blame them? Plants were in small plastic pots (indoors) then transferred to bigger fabric pots outside. I noticed over the last 2 years that size of pot doesn't mean a great deal with auto-flowers. Big or small - the yields were (relatively speaking) the same.
May 17th - Germinating the remaining strains:
Skywalker OG Runtz XL (Sweet Seeds)
Gorilla Glue (Barney's Farm - sample)
Gorilla Girl XL (Sweet Seeds - sample)
Sweet Mimosa XL (Sweet Seeds)
Using exactly same methods as previous three strains. Light indoors/will go outside in 14 days.
I get very mixed results here, and based on experience this is the ideal time to be planting - based on the heat (it gets crazy hot - 40C at the peak) Not using a grow tent for the entire grow, I am very much at the mercy of the weather and all I can really do is treat them with care and cross my fingers.
One thing that's been consistent is Sweet Seeds - honestly, compared to any other strain I've tried over the years, these guys tower over the competition - big, fat, bushy plants with some top buds... and fat :) So, this year I'm once again comparing the competition - I've not had the best time with Barney's Farm but I've also learnt a bit more over the last couple of years so maybe I'll get better results. First time with Fast Buds. So far, they are all doing very well.
I've been an on/off grower for many years - but never taken it seriously (or gotten good results) until the last year or so. Even now, I'm happy with the yields (around 50-60g dry for autos) but not so happy with the smoke for one reason or another. I suspect it's down to the drying process which I've got a feeling I've been doing wrong (using small boxes and the dampness/humidity buildup caused a stale, unpleasant taste in a couple of strains). So, need to work on drying out this year.
Also, for the first time, going to lower PH levels. Normal tap water here is 7.0-7.2 - I'd like to bring it down to 6.5. Have purchased the ph up/down bottles... now I just need to use them.
First three moved outside from tent -
Wedding Cake Auto
Forbidden Runtz Auto
Strawberry Banana Gelato XL Auto
They seem to have taken well to the natural sun and chilly nights!
Birds have attempted to chew a leaf (possibly) but otherwise holding strong.
Week 3 went smoothly - but the real action was in week 4...
Weather outdoors generally okay - no rain, lots of sun and temps between 25 and 30 at the peak.
Week 4 and the plants have shot through the roof - nice healthy dark green leaves, no signs of any deficiencies at all... even the birds have stayed away :) (I can hear them though...... tip tapping in the roof...)
Aside from finally getting the PH levels right about a week ago - I've also unearthed an old bottle of some sort of root booster (must remember to read label...) So I've started using that alongside the daily 2ml (per litre) of BioBizz Bio-Grow - I have to water every day because the soil in the plants is bone dry every evening. I thought it might be too much but they seem to be enjoying it.
So far so good...
Very much like week 4 - there's a lot of activity and they're growing at a fast pace... but it's getting cloudy, humid and much hotter so the weather is not our side. They've had a perfect month but the battle really lies ahead and it's starting now as temp start to rocket.
Fingers crossed.
Finally started flowering... actually caught me off guard because I was expecting another week of veg (yeah, stoned...)
Anyway, all good outside, and much to my surprise the Barney's Farm Wedding Cake is towering in the lead in terms of height. Out of 10 seeds, 2 appear to be of the small variety but the others are all huge and look like they're going to do well.
Weather is sweltering hot but we've had good cloud cover so not all bad.
I think I'm up to date... Been busy growing vegetables and painting walls so not had much time to take some snaps. Plants are usually watered around midnight these days.
Very impressed with the results so far :)
Starting using Bud Candy and ended up with a bottle of Bio-Heaven (instead of Bio Grow) so adding both of them - 2ml per litre... a little bit more of Bio-Heaven. Bud Candy 2/3 days then nothing for a couple of days. Does Bud Candy work? Not sure about all of them but I'm seeing some real frost on the Strawberry Banana... in fact, they're positively exploding at this point.
But... the real surprise is that the Wedding Cake Auto is an absolute tower - it's incredibly tall (on a par with photo-period) I don't think any photos would do it justice. It's not dense - but it looks like it will give a good yield. To be honest, they all do :)
Very lucky with the weather - yes, it's pushing into the 30C's but not for that long and they're getting some partial shade. A few cloudy evenings have also helped. Had hoped for a big storm today (17th June) but it never came... the plants seem to get a real boost after a big heavy downpour and that deep humidity the day after. But no such luck...
This is the first year I've bothered to look at/follow! a feeding chart - and I think there's a real difference - I've got weights from last year's harvests so it will be interesting to compare. Very happy with BioBizz so far - no signs of any damage or overfeeding, etc - the plants have looked big, strong and healthy since they went outside and found their roots.
Quite like the 'leaning tower of Ganja' (very first photo) ... iirc it's the Forbidden Runtz. I was lazy and never straightened it when I should have and it just started leaning. Incredible spread outwards on the branches - haven't seen anything like that before.
The nutrients are the same as before for the rest of them - but I've stopped adding to Strawberry Banana XL - and now using Flawless Finish (prob twice in total) with an aim to harvest in the next week, possibly sooner. Trichomes are nice and cloudy and the buds are rock solid and very frosty. The photos really don't do them justice... they're a lot bigger than they appear.
Runtz, I think, will follow soon after, then Wedding Cake.
10/10 for Sweet Seeds - they've never let me down :) Huge bushy, sturdy and incredibly fat plants - every time. Imho, one of the most reliable seeds company out there (and no, I don't work for them!) For an outdoor grow - there were zero deficiencies or problems with the leaves, etc. Smooth sailing all the way. Thanks Sweet Seeds!
The photos are from harvesting the 1st and 2nd plants - but they're all just about identical. The smallest was a 170g (wet) and biggest was 250g (wet)
These plants were all harvested a few days under 8 weeks. Or 8 weeks from when I put the seed in the soil, (but not germinated yet) Based on this - I'd say Strawberry Banana Gelato is a very, very high yield and fast growing plant.
Solid dense, frosty, smelly nugs.
Yeah, I'm happy (so far!)
Now it's on to the Forbidden Runtz :)
I am sticking to the recommended grow time :
Strawberry Banana Gelato XL - 8 weeks
Forbidden Runtz - 9 weeks (they look ready now to be honest...)
Wedding Cake Auto (definitely not ready now... will be 9 or maybe 10 weeks? - not sure what the packet says... have to research it)
Really enjoyed growing Wedding Cake Auto - a real mix of sizes. One was huge, another mid-sized and one really small one. The problems are probably all related to germination/light coverage at the start in the tent indoors. Too many - I had 10 and I think it really only had enough light for 6. Still, I got a record auto with the biggest weighing in at 77g dry weight - that should last a while :)
Really impressed with Barney's genetics. Get a good one and you'll get some incredibly big yields. From the same grow, I've just this morning weighed up a Barney's Farm Gorilla Glue Auto and that hit 64g dry weight. So Barney's now holds 1st and 3rd position for max yields from an auto-flower. Fastbuds are 2nd with a 71g Forbidden Runtz Auto.
This is an outdoor grow with zero defoliation, zero training and no topping - absolutely nothing done to the plants except add nutrients every day. They're also at the mercy of an infernal heatwave which really doesn't help matters. This is a very simple grow - which is how I like it.
This is the first time i've had what I call 'success' with a Barney's Farm strain... and I'm most impressed!
The first plant was a record auto-flower for me (I'll update the dry weights with the smoke review in a few weeks)
The second one was tiny as anything... but the smell is amazing - I cannot describe it. Probably the lowest yield but the best bud for this one.
The third was very average and grew as expected.
A thumbs up from me for Barney's Farm and I'll def be growing something from them next year.
The grow itself was pretty smooth except for the heat. Nothing much to report otherwise.
Went pretty smoothly like the other 2 strains. These three all (in the end) did look the same and produced superb results... one was a record breaker for me... but that was beaten a few days later when I harvested the tall Wedding Cake Auto - A good run... learning to use nutrients has made all the difference, but still much to learn.
Also learnt that dry trimming is much better than wet trimming.... found this out by accident when I had to scramble to cut down 5 plants and had no choice but to leave them hanging to dry for five days. A bit shocked at first, but when I started to trim through those fan leaves the nugs took shape and looked beautiful. Appearances can clearly be deceiving... Dry trim all the way from now on.
A big fan of Fastbuds - and I'll def be growing some of their autos next year :) A very big thumbs up!
Hola amigo, esa weding vale parece altísima!!
Podrías decirme cuánto te mide la Strawberry banana gelato xl?
Tengo 4 y han salido bastante distintas unas de otras la verdad.
@GanjaFarmer101, Siguen sin aparecer en mi strawberry banana gelato los tricomas dorados, está cada vez más helada, llena de tricomas blancos, está en su octava semana como la tuya.
@GanjaFarmer101,
Mis 4 strawberry cumplen 8 semanas el sábado, una de ellas está apunto, con los tricomas lechosos aunque aún no hay color ámbar, seguramente mañana la corte, las otras 3 llevan por lo menos 4 o 5 días de retraso.
@Andrascan, Hi, I'm seriously thinking of harvesting the Strawberry Banana some time next week - so just 8 weeks (and a little bit) in total. This is really short for me, I usually go for 10 weeks minimum - but these ones have exploded. The trichomes are definitely all mostly cloudy. Strange as it may sound, this year I'm trying to go for less time rather than more. Last year I got a lot of really 'ripe' and very dark weed, so this year I'm aiming for something lighter in colour and not so heavy a smoke (although I do like heavy as well!)
Honestly, all my Strawberry Bananas really do look like they have identical bud sites - they're are all the same and very distinct. Out of all three strains, these ones are all a good match. Unlike the others.
I have your problem with the Forbidden Runtz - all 3 of them look like they're completely different strains = just like you said about the Strawberry Banana...
Ganja, eh? :)
I'll post some new photos tomorrow.
Hey! Nice grow :). I'm considering doing a run of one in a 5 gallon fabric organic setup. It would only be using 600w but it should be alright. My question is; what sort of height did these girls get to? I am very limited with what I have in terms of growth space. I'm using a 40cm x 40cm x 100cm tent so as you can imagine I have to train plants every time or only grow very short bushy plants! Any ideas about the height averages? Thanks
:) x
@TheScottishHobbit,Check out the video in the second diary for a good idea about heights. I'm 6 foot and they probably hit close to 4-5 feet (for the really tall ones)
growdiaries.com/diaries/144558-grow-journal-by-ganjafarmer101/week/811276
If you're using a light (mine's all outdoors) then go with some LST and keep the canopy low, I guess?
Good luck with the grow :) I got a good yield from the Forbidden Runtz... oddly enough, I just opened a bag today! I would also really (really) rate the Strawberry Banana Gelato - crazy yield for just 7 weeks (and a day or two) Never had a plant so big/quick... and a top vape/strong.
GanjaFarmer101
