23 Gorilla Sherbet Fast

May 6: first day above soil. Solid week since seed first hit water. Been a super hot spring this year.

May 13: 10-15 C hotter than normal and low humidity means we’re having a very bad fire year. Misting plants to compensate for low humidity. Early to put seedling out but it’s warm enough even overnight for the little Gorilla Cookies Fast Flowering. Nice bags from Fast Buds are a bit too small at 4 gallons for this girl so I’ve put hot peppers in them instead. May 19: outside full time now. Bad fire season and getting smoky and gross.

May 23: bad fires due to very dry and hot spring. A bit of rain today was good. She’s doing fine. Keeping leaves misted to make up for the low humidity.

May 26; entering week 4 so things will start happening soon. First few weeks it always looks like nothing is happening. Cool overnight temperatures also keep the growth a bit slow, but the weather is good and I’m sure there will be a big growth spurt very soon. Did weekly foliar spray of Extreme Blend from Kelp4less.com May 30: small watering with some Natures Source and molasses. Pretty warm at 27 C and Thunderstorm came at 9 pm. Plants had their hats on for protection. Nice rain with some serious thunder. ⛈️⛈️ May 31: another warm day with an evening thunderstorm. Plants protected. June 1: they got rained on today.

June 3: growing fast now. Still almost 3 weeks until the solstice so we’re in good shape timing wise. June 5: “we got ‘er goin’ now.” Nice fast growth happening. June 6: now past fifth node and will top first thing tomorrow morning. June 7: topped for manifolding (or mainlining), and watered with a simple compost tea (mature compost, water, molasses, vinegar for pH) left to steep overnight. Apologies for the audio quality on the video.

June 9: plant is doing great after first topping. Very hot and smoky again today. Did a foliar spray of Extreme Blend and potassium silicate, pH adjusted using Apple cider vinegar to about 6.8. Might have overdone it slightly but they’ll recover. June 10: foliar of soluble seaweed extract to help beat the 30 C heat. Still misting plants periodically to compensate for sub 30% humidity. I knew it was a hot spring, but holy fuck, 5.8 C warmer than historic average is crazy. June 14: rain day. Compost tea in video was left for 36-48 hours before use.

June 15: lots of rain ended this morning. 64 mm or 2.5 inches over 48 hours. No watering need for a while. She looks pretty good and I’m currently waiting for the two stems to grow a bit more. A day or two before another round of topping to make the 8 (or 16?) cola manifold. June 18: still more rain. Wow, really pouring at the moment. About 80 mm in last few days and heavy rain forecast for all day today. Oh well. Plants are up against house to minimize soaking. Took two fan leaves that were growing back across the main stem to allow more light in. So far so good. June 20: second round of topping to get to 8 colas and tied down to have all growth tips at same elevation. Waited until fourth node was forming and then topped to third node and removed growth tips at the second node. Sounds a bit hard but totally easy once you try. 👍called mainlining on Growdiaries but should be called manifolding. Still quite cool and rainy which is great for the forest fires, but a bit cool for cannabis. Oh well. June 21: Happy Solstice. Our monsoon season seems to be done and next two weeks look like great cannabis weather - sunny with low to mid 20s C.

June 22: morning foliar spray with Extreme Blend and FPJ made from cannabis tops and brown sugar. June 23: bit of a rough day today. I broke one ot the main stems this morning while trying to bend it a bit. It had grown to the point where I should be supercropping and not just using LST to get the 8 colas properly separated. Need to buy some proper floral tape and the only thing I could find in a hurry was clear packing tape. Not ideal but might still work. Or I’m down two colas. Also found a caterpillar in the act of munching on the leaves which mostly explains the minor leaf damage. Not a big deal and she is looking good for the solstice time of year. June 24: now have floral tape (great $5 grow tip) so I supercropped and taped the undamaged stem. This keeps all 8 grow tips at same height so one doesn’t take apical dominance. This way all should grow evenly. The broken stem looks like it will recover. Watered for first time since rain with molasses, Cal-Mag and Nature’s Source. June 25: morning foliar spray with FPJ and potassium silicate. Started another lazy compost tea in 5 gallon bucket. Two handfuls compost, molasses, Extreme Blend, kelp extract, bit of vinegar to get pH to about 7, and a bit of Dr Bronners peppermint soap to help solubilize things (surfactant or wetting agent). Also decided to add a handful of shredded coco coir to give the bacteria some media to grow on (“fiber”). Leave 24-36 h to incubate. June 26: looks good…used compost tea after 27C day. June 28: replaced clear plastic with floral tape. Five days to heal well enough to re-tape. Removed lower growth tips as part of the manifolding to focus growth on the 8 top spots for now.

June 29: looking good at the start of a new week. Hot again and risk of thunderstorms so the plants are up against the house tonight. Plant has reached lowest of three rungs on the tomato cage and I’m trying to get a few colas to go around on the outside. July 1: Happy Canada Day. Warm again today with a risk of thunderstorms. July 2: cool today (about 12 C high) so watered with 27 C water in morning to help keep things growing. Also topped fourth time to make the 16 cola manifold. This is the best way to shape photoperiod plants…all the work is up front and it produces nice uniform buds that are easy to process during harvest. Two stems on the piece that broke are healthy but smaller than the others. Should even out with time. Watered with full nutrient mix. July 5: looks good. I was gone for a couple of days after the last round of topping and just noticed today that I had done seven and had missed one which has now been dealt with.

July 6: peak growing season now and I expect she’ll be growing about an inch per day here for the next couple of weeks. Weather should be perfect and just have to dodge the thunderstorms. Started another lazy compost tea. Cheers to all growers. 👍 July 7: mild defoliation done over this last week to let light in to the growth tips. Water only as a light flush. July 8: definitely fast growth and looking very dark green but hopefully not too much N. Watered in evening with lazy compost tea. This lazy compost tea is just a 5 gallon (20 L pail) with couple handfuls of mature compost, some molasses, some humic acids and kelp, Dr Bronners peppermint soap as a surfactant (or wetting agent) and vinegar to get pH near 7. Then it’s all left in the shade for about 24-48 hours with the occasional stir. Alternately you could just use Recharge which is made from bacteria, molasses and humic acids. Super easy either way. July 10: added a couple handfuls of malted barley as a top dressing. This is a top organic growing tip from Clackamas Coot. Just get some from a local brew shop which should have a variety of malted grains. Cheap stuff is fine. I’ll add some Power Bloom next week but I figured the barley is good enough for now. Now 25 inches so she grew 6 inches in 4 days. Good times. Good times.

July 13: this Gorilla Cookies FF is doing great and the weather here is still cooperating. Perfect cannabis growing conditions for next two weeks so lots more veg before flowering starts. 👍👍 July 14: smoky again. Watered with Kelp Humic Blend and Nature’s Source. July 17: growing at a bit over an inch per day.

July 20: 31 inches with a 16 cola manifold 👍😎. Definitely growing fast and has now pulled ahead of the 16 cola Bruce Banner Fast which is at 30 inches. Hot again today so a bit more water and a couple of mistings with hose water to cool off a bit and provide some humidity. One tomato plant that I realized had a potassium deficiency responded well to a potassium silicate foliar spray. You can learn some cool stuff growing dope. July 24: still growing fast and maybe starting to pre-flower which is fine cuz I’m starting the force flowering in a few days. This is just 12 h of darkness to get this photoperiod to start flowering. Yes, it’s a photoperiod plant from Fast Buds. And it’s awesome. Did another lazy compost tea which is just 5 gallon pail of water that’s sat out overnight to degas, two handfuls of mature compost, some molasses, kelp and Humic Blend, and finally a couple handfuls of shredded coco coir to give the bacteria some where to attach and grow. Leave overnight, maybe stir a couple times, but that’s all. 24-48 h maximum as you don’t want it going anaerobic (and stinky). After tea, she and the other girls got a nice top dressing of barley and Power Bloom with minor amounts of oyster shells (for calcium) and Azomite for trace metals. These are bloom nutrients in anticipation of the start of flowering this weekend. This has been the hottest 90 day period ever here in Edmonton, and lots of other places too.

July 27: she has started preflowering already so I’m going to go with just phyto-forcing with a far red 730 nm light for a few seconds at dusk each night. This will be easier than putting them in the garage for 12 h a night for three weeks. This is a good trick for northern growers. July 30: doing great and seems to be flowering so all is good. Video shows how easy it is to make lazy compost tea which the plants definitely love. July 31: watered in early evening with compost tea. Aug 1: I’m a total tea convert now. Plants always love it.

Aug 3: woohoo week two of flowering. Plant is definitely flowering and looks to be on its way to a strong finish. Very excited for this one and it looks very promising. Group pic is Cheese in front, Gelato, Gorilla Cookies, and Bruce Banner. Last two are 16 cola manifolds, and the front two are 8 colas. Aug 5: video shows use of 730 nm far red light as a bloom booster. A few seconds at dusk is all it takes. I use Civil Twilight as listed on timeanddate.com for my latitude each night. Currently getting 2 minutes earlier each night. The far red light at dusk, at the same point in the light cycle each night, causes the plant to go into dark mode about two hours faster. It’s like getting an extra two hours of darkness in a 26 h day. Works indoors and on autos too. Moves up flowering by about 3-4 weeks here. Don’t miss a night and keep it at the same relative time each night. This is sometimes called phyto-forcing. Easier than moving the plants into the garage each night. Aug 6: foliar spray of potassium silicate and Extreme Blend done in early evening. Plants drink a lot when it is hot and they’re this big and have been watering twice a day lately. Aug 7: did another round of compost tea this morning. Aug 9: defoliated the understory to improve airflow and remove shaded bits. Mostly fan leaves and popcorn bud sites with a few small branches that were growing in towards the centre.

Aug 10: added malted barley and Power Bloom for second time as a top dressing. Aug 13: don’t take flash pics of your plants unless you are then using a 730 nm far red light to put them into dark mode. Otherwise you’ll be messing too much with the light cycle and might cause them to hermie. I have no proof but I’m theorizing the red light light might help prevent hermies. Worked last year anyway. Buds look good in flash pics so it’s a nice side benefit of using the red light as a bloom booster. Aug 16: good week for weather and she looks great.

Aug 17: great plant. Hit 30 C today, and there was a two minute hail storm late in the day. It sounded very impressive on the roof, but I had moved the pot plants up against the house and they were fine. The rest of the garden took a mild beating. Aug 18: rained all day. Aug 20: sunny yesterday and most of today. Watered with some Kekp extract in the evening. Flowering is progressing and we’re still in mid August so things are looking good. Aug 22: don’t take flash pics of photoperiod plants unless you’re immediately using a 730 nm far red light to put them into dark mode. Aug 23: looking good for the end of another diary week. This Gorilla Cookies is definitely the fastest flowering of the four plants I’m growing this year.

Aug 24: cool and rainy lately but will warm up again in a couple days. Gorilla Cookies looks really good and is flowering nicely. Very nice strain. Added some soluble seaweed to the water mostly for the K. Don’t take flash pics of photoperiods unless you’re immediately using a 730 nm light to put them into dark mode. Using the far red light like this is known as phyto-forcing and it’s like getting an extra two hours of darkness making a 26 h day. This far north I think it moves flowering up by 3-4 weeks so obviously a huge trick. Easy and cheap if you have daily access at dusk. Aug 26: it’s been a couple of weeks but I figured it was time for a lazy compost tea. I watered with it slightly diluted and the plants look almost immediately greener and more vigorous…amazing actually. 👍👍 Aug 27: this is definitely the fastest flowering of the four. Hopefully it stays sunny for a few more weeks. Thinned out the understory a bit as there were some small branches and bud sites that were not going to do anything. Check out the birds sounds on the first video. The magpies thought I was too close to their nest in the tree or something…they’re usually not quite that annoying. Aug 29: this is a great strain, and the manifold is working its magic.

Aug 31: Fast. I got home from work today and could see a notable increase on the flowers. Very exciting. Sep 2: plants are fine but we’re having yet another bad air day due to wildfire smoke. The red tint on the photos is due to smoke. This is pretty bad, but it was worse a few times in May. It’s supposed to clear later this weekend. Sep 3: still smoky but rained a bit which helps. Gorilla Cookies has the best flowers but also seemed to catch the most rainwater in the buds. Gave each branch a shake to help prevent problems. Sep 4: soil is holding water since the last compost tea. This reduction in infiltration rate can happen apparently, and the trick is to not overwater it. It’s also cool today so minimal water used. Sep 5: cool today with gusty winds that blew over Bruce and Gelato. Small footprint of the 5 gallon bag isn’t quite big enough to be stable when plant is this big. Trade off with using a more easily moved size, and that should also help promote early flowering.

Sep 7: Gorilla Cookies is doing great. It’s the biggest of the four plants with the most uniform manifolding job, it’s also the furthest along in flowering and will be the first one to finish. Hopefully by later this month and that we get lots of sun to drive trichome production. Still doing the 730 nm far red light at dusk as a bloom booster, and I’ll keep doing that until the end. And don’t take flash pics of your buds unless you’re then immediately using a far red light to put them into dark mode. Sep 9: bit of defoliation of lower branches and buds to direct plant’s energy upward and to maintain good airflow especially down low. Used my last bit of Cal-Mag as a few leaves on each of the plants was starting to show a minor calcium deficiency. Sep 10: beautiful weekend is probably the best one all summer with nice sun, no smoke and perfect room temperature sort of weather. Sitting here a minor gust of wind blew her over. This the fifth time a plant has blown over lately but first time for this one. The 5 gallon bags are big enough for what I want but still easy to move around to maximize sunlight. A drawback is the small pot needs to be stabilized by filled buckets. Sep 12: these buds are forming quickly and she is ahead of the other three plants by at least a week. Raising odour level to normal which is probably pretty loud for other people who can still smell most things. The tops are starting to look white when viewed from a distance so that’s pretty cool.

Sep 14: another nice day and she is doing fine. Using far red 730 nm light for a few seconds at dusk as a bloom booster. Added benefit is I can take flash pics without causing the plant to hermie. Just use the red light right after the flash pic. Sep 16: this plant is covered in flowers and is really quite awesome. It is way ahead of the others but still needs another couple weeks at least. Sep 19: this plant is getting noticeably heavier, and I can tell when I move it to sunny spots in the yard.

Sep 21: fall is here with 12 h of darkness and red tinted sunlight both of which help with flowering. One problem with growing dope here is the UV light is weak this far North in the fall so for most people it’s better to just do autos outdoors and timing it so they ripen during the stronger summer sun and you’re done by the end of August. But if you want reliable big yields these fast flowering photoperiods are definitely the best choice. Sep 23: seems a bit off colour so I added some Alaska Fish Fertilizer for N. Always warming the water to about 26C these days to help keep the plant and soil bacteria warm and happy. Sep 25: this plant and Bruce both got blown over twice today. This is because the small 5 gallon bags aren’t big and heavy enough. The plants are fine. Oh well, the advantage is that I can move them around easily to maximize direct sun. Don’t take flash pics of your plants unless you’re going to immediately use a 730 nm far red light to put the plants into dark mode. It’s a great trick as a bloom booster and moves up finishing time here by a couple or three weeks. Sep 27: harvest will be tomorrow because of some bad weather moving in. Tomorrow will be okay but then rain and cold overnight and even snow forecast for late next week. C’est La vie.

One year later update: this was actually Gorilla Sherbet. I seem to recall making a last minute decision to not do Gorilla Cookies. Doh! Gorilla Cookies Fast Flowering is probably my all time favourite to grow. Manifolded to 16 colas which is totally worth it even outdoors as you get nice uniform buds that are easy to process. Grown in a smallish 5 gallon bag to move around the yard as needed which worked except she got blown over about five times during the season. This plant was phyto-forced using a 730 nm far red light for a few seconds at dusk each night starting in early August. This puts the plant into dark mode two hours faster and is like having a 26 h day. Easy trick if you have daily access and is especially good at high latitudes. See video in Week 14 showing how to use the red light. It sounds bogus but definitely works as a bloom booster. I’m at the most northerly major city in Canada (Edmonton at 53 N, for comparison Toronto is way further south at 43.7 N) and this photoperiod plant is done by the end of September. Ten tops are set aside for flower and about 1350 g is fresh frozen and will be made into piatella hash, likely next month. Sunlight is getting quite weak now and harsh weather is coming soon so we were at the point of diminishing returns with risk of storm damage to some nice trichomes. The resin on my gloves and trimmers (which I had to clean twice) showed she was ready. Zero bugs, zero mould or mildew, no problems at all. Highly recommended. Awesome plant for this climate and latitude. With more veg time and a bigger bag, or even better in ground, you could easily get over a pound (454 g) of dried buds. The compost teas were amazing and definitely how it should be done for an organic grow. Both Gorilla Glue and Girl Scout Cookies are personal faves partly because they’re good with overnight lows sometimes well below 10 C in the spring. Fast Buds is to be commended for releasing these photoperiods which are particularly great for short season outdoor growers. And I am really looking forward to making some piatella style hash. To be continued.

Nov 13: Hash washing using fresh frozen plant material. This Gorilla Cookies had nice yield with most of the trichome recovery being on the first two washes. Later washes were still very high quality. Bag sizes used are 160/120/45/45 which means the 120 fraction is still very decent for immediate use and what is caught on the first 45 micron screen has a nice range (full spectrum). That’s how Frenchy Cannoli said he did it, so fine by me. Washed for 3 minutes, then 3, 4, 6, 9 and 12 minutes. A+ grade on first three washes and then only slightly worse on later pulls. I tried fresh frozen before and it was a disaster with way too much green in the extract. This time I avoided trimming sugar leaves by leaving them intact or removing them whole and that seemed to work. Will confirm hash yield after freeze drying but seems good. Extracted resin is the perfect sandy colour and is now in freezer. The freeze dryer should be wired in and ready to go later this week.