2 Gallons to Glory - 01

This is my third time growing this cultivar. The first was the seed plant, the second was in a 5 gallon pot that got too large, and now this is one. It's my favorite daytime herb in my collection. Has a lemon tea like scent and flavor, good buzz, not overpowering, but doesn't make me sleepy either. The last time I took her at 87 days, but like I said that plant was way too big. I have found that flowering in 2 gallon pots provides a much more manageable experience all-around. This is all head stash. I am harvesting every 30 days or so, and I certainly do not require 6 ounce plants to satisfy my demand. Much more to come, stay tuned.

I purchased these seeds along with 100+ others (individual seeds, not packs) in late 2006 and early 2007 by sending Western Union money orders to the UK in birthday cards along with my seed order. My only recourse was crossing my fingers and hoping that my seeds would eventually arrive. What I found was that the “Buy it Now” option on Seedbay turned out to be pretty reliable. They used to have a Nirvana 4 pack deal for a very reasonable price ($50, I think). European seed producers at the time were very guarded with the lineage in their crosses, but the common thought was that Nirvana was taking known elite Dutch cultivars of the time and breeding them with a Skunk #1 male and producing ‘knock offs’. AK-48 was AK-47xSk1, Blue Mystic = Blueberry x Sk1, Bubblicious = Bubble GumxSk1, Jock Horror = Jack x Sk1. The point being, there ended up being a lot of variation in packs, but also some keepers were there to be found. I did some growing at that time, but ended up buying a ton of seeds that I never used. As a daily user for almost 30 years now, self sufficiency made/makes a lot of sense. A couple years ago I decided to get back into growing my own herb after being disappointed and underwhelmed with the quality of flower from the dispensaries.

Week 6 has brought about the slowing of vertical growth and the flowers starting to put on some bulk. Each time I have run this cut the top leaves will start to come in lighter than the fan leaves below. At week 6, so far they are maintaining a lime green color with some discoloration. This is not a cause for concern. Flower formation is on track and everything else looks healthy. I basically have to ride with whatever happens because I use the BeanStalk line of products for fertilization. They are a single application, controlled release formula that feed the plant over the course of approximately 90 days. This means that I never have to mix nutes. Water only and I set it and forget it. I mix in a known quantity of the product at transplant and that’s it. I highly recommend this product to anyone who is interested in simplifying their grow. The upfront cost is a little steep, but I purchased 3 pound bags of all 4 products in February 2021 and still have a ton of it left. Last time I grew this cut, I observed many of the ‘sugar leaves’ turning yellow and dying prior to harvest. That plant was grown in a 5 gallon pot, with a much longer veg time, much more vegetative mass, and was much closer to my lights. I am hoping to get different results in a smaller pot with shorter veg time and less leaf growth. When I harvested that plant, I noticed that on most flowers this was not a big issue, but over time I have found that when sugar leaves die on the plant, this is the most likely avenue for mold to develop in my room.

Since this diary started in the middle of Week 4 of flower, many of the details about how we got to that point have remained a mystery. In previous updates I mentioned how my last attempt at growing this cut resulted in a plant that outgrew my space. I had a long veg time and used a 5 gallon pot. That information allowed me to exercise caution on this grow because I knew how big this plant can get when given an opportunity. With that in mind, I only gave her 9 days after transplant from the aerocloner before moving her to the flower tent. My pervious experience dictated that this plant exhibits significant lateral branching. I top most of my plants to encourage this kind of growth, but due to the short veg time and for the sake of experimentation, I decided to not top her this time. You can see that this has resulted in a large main stem cola, but also (thanks to knowing her growth pattern) several rather large secondary colas as well. As an aside, some may look at this and wonder "yeah, but what about the yield?" I have never weighed a harvest. I grow for myself only, therefore yield is not something I concern myself with. I just don't care. I fill one quart mason jar and the rest is given away or turned into hash. My scheduling is such that I harvest approximately one plant a month; therefore I have enough smoke to last a VERY long time. While this plant will probably go 12+ weeks, with only 9 days of veg, it’s still comparable to a 10 week variety that would require a longer veg time to produce a similar yield. And, frankly, I have close to a dozen cultivars in my ‘consumable’ collection and this is the only one I reach for prior to 9 pm. She has a very clear and motivational high. Not overpowering, but I never test her ceiling, so she could get one blasted if necessary. This would also be a great plant for someone having trouble eating, because my appetite is essentially limitless when I’m smoking this. Perhaps it’s no coincidence that I have put on a few lbs since I’ve had her in my collection?