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OUTDOOR GROWING
Strain: Shiva Skunk by Sensi Seeds
Location: Northeast Europe (approximately 52° latitude)
Life period: 24 April - 21 November 2015
20 (twenty) seeds were sown directly into the substrate, in twenty 5-liter pots.
The substrate was a half-and-half mixture of peat soil and coconut fiber with a small addition of perlite.
All sprouted, but 2 were eaten by birds right after germination. I put the cat on guard and it scared the birds away.
18 left. They all looked nice, healthy and growing fast.
For the first two weeks, the soil was watered daily with a glass of water per pot.
After two weeks, started adding HESI nutrients every third day:
· Root Complex - 5 ml / 1 l of water
· TNT Complex - 5 ml / 1 l of water
· SuperVit - 1 drop / 5 l of water
So for the first five weeks after germination (which lasted two weeks), the schedule was as follows:
One glass of clean (spring) water per plant every day for two days in a row, and on the third day - water with nutrients. And again ... and so on.
Sixth week (late May) :
Plants are about 35-40 cm tall, have 5-6 layers of leaves and look healthy. But they stretch a lot to the light and it's starting to get cramped in the pots.
Time to put Ladies into solid ground.
The watering/nutrient schedule remained the same, except that instead of one glass of solution per plant, they were now getting two.
At the turn of May and June there were violent storms, rains and hailstorms. As a result, one plant died - the hurricane broke the tip of the pine, which fell centrally on the plant and simply crushed it. Another was eaten whole by snails (in just one night) - leaving only the main trunk. I secured the rest of the plants by scattering small pieces of broken glass around each one.
I also had a lot of stress because of a mole who loved my patch and constantly undermined it, completely knocking over one plant. Fortunately, i was able to save her. But again i had to turn to the cat for help ... and again it worked. Also, during transplantation, i gave one seedling as a gift to a friend.
And so i was left with fifteen plants.
Twelfth Week (mid-July) :
The first signs of flowering - the plants are 1 meter high, they already have a dozen or so side branches (quite long) and start to look like a classic Christmas tree. Some of them are showing their first 'hair'. Not all at once - first one, a few days later another, then a few days later several more, until in the fifteenth week all the plants were abundantly 'hairy'.
End of vegetation phase.
Fifteenth week (beginning of August) :
Flowering has started in full swing.
The plants are over a meter high (except for one - still under a meter), the leaves have changed color from light to dark green.
Everything looks healthy - impressive indeed.
Nutrients have been changed at this point (also HESI, but for the flowering phase) :
· Bloom Complex -- 5 ml / 1 l of water
· Phosphorus Plus -- 3 ml / 1 l of water
· SuperVit -- 1 drop / 5 l of water
(every third day)
also :
· PowerZyme -- 2 ml / 1 l of water
· Boost -- 2 ml / 1 l of water
(every second week)
Eighteenth Week (mid-August) :
The plants are about one and a half meters tall.
The buds gain weight, and drops of resin begin to be visible to the naked eye even on smaller leaves.
The smell is very intense - you can feel it clearly from a distance of 50 m.
Twentieth Week (early September) :
The plants are about 170 cm tall.
The buds are still gaining mass, there are drops of resin everywhere, and the 'hair' are turning red and brown.
Twenty-Second Week (Mid September) :
The plants are over 170 cm tall, some reaching up to 2 meters high.
The buds are still gaining mass, there are drops of resin everywhere and more and more red 'hairs'.
Everything is sticky, even the stems.
Twenty-fifth Week (end of September) :
Before the harvest.
Most of the plants are 2 meters tall.
There are also a few lower ones - about 170 cm. And one, the smallest is about 120 cm high.
Plants give off a very intense (but pleasant) scent, especially when touched or moved. After watering in the evening, my clothes are completely soaked with their aroma even the next day.
Several plants - four to be precise - are ready to be harvested. Their buds are huge and heavy that their stems bend almost to the ground. Most of the 'hair' is brown and the calyxes are very large. Full of resin, also on the leaves.
At this point, i started to rip off all the larger leaves, to make harvesting and drying easier.
And completely stopped giving nutrients - only pure water.
Amazing! Sharp, incense smell. Citrus-floral taste. Very pleasant. Hard stone. Total high. You feel like in a rocket - it pins you firmly to the chair. For long. Not for newbies. One of my favourite.
Twenty-eighth Week (Mid-October) :
Harvest Time.
The first plant was harvested in early October, followed by three more a week later. By mid-October most of the plants had already been harvested. Only three plants needed one extra week.
One plant - the smallest one - i left on purpose to live as long as possible. This lasted the whole next month, until the end of November, when ground frosts began, high humidity and sleet were forecast. You can see this plant on four last photos - a few days before harvest.
The plants were harvested by cutting the main stem close to the ground. Then hung on strings in the garage to dry. The temperature in the garage was between 10-15°C and there was good air flow. They hung there in the dark for two months - until the end of the year.
Next, the buds were separated from the stems, manicured and weighed. It was over half a kilo - exactly 508 g ready for smoking dried stuff.
The stuff was divided into 10-gram portions and poured into waxed paper bags before being placed in a big cigar storage container.
It gave me a lot of happiness for the whole next year. And even more.
~·~
Final thoughts :
As you probably noticed, my spot is in the forest, which means - little light. Latitude 52° also means not much light plus a rather short summer and a long, cool fall. In such conditions i am limited to growing (outdoors) only a few varieties - those most resistant to bad weather and fast (short) flowering. Of course, i want to get the best high as possible. And Skunk is like that. Any variety of Skunk - Early Skunk and Skunk #1 in particular. I prefer Skunk #1 over Early Skunk, because it gives better yield (though needs to live two weeks longer), and the high is similar.
This time i opted for Shiva Skunk, which requires more attention from the grower and a warmer climate. But she's also the strongest of all the Skunks - from what i've heard. I tried to grow Shiva Skunk once before, back in my guerrilla days, but i failed because the site was detected and destroyed before the plants matured. Now that i have my (relatively) safe spot and a little more experience - i decided to take a chance again with Shiva Skunk.
I know i should have given more space between the plants, but i couldn't. Anyway, in my conditions i'm always very happy if i get 30 g from any plant. This time i got more - 33.3 g per plant. And i need a gram a day to feel 'safe'. So this time i had a lot more than i need for a whole year.
I was happy and stress free :)
Summary :
The weather that year was simply great almost all season long, which is rare in these parts - truly exceptional. This certainly contributed to the fact that i didn't have any major problems while growing and was able to harvest on time - when everything was fully ripe. However, i can safely say that Shiva Skunk is quite friendly to grow - even in such bad conditions as mine. And at the same time it gives a large yield and very strong high. This is one of my favourites. 👍
@MiyaguiOkPolilla,
Yes, i always have a few. Even though i didn't have a single male. A bee or a butterfly pollinate, and the wind can carry pollen even from a distance of 100 km. You don't know what will become of it. But sometimes something good comes out. ;)
All the best!
amadeo
