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.
@Hempy_The_Kid, hey my approximation of Recharge seems to be working nicely. Seems like the way to do this…I read somewhere that Recharge is bacteria, molasses and humic acids so it make sense that this would work. Cheers.
Beautiful harvest. Proof you can get top shelf without running lights, dehumidifiers and fans for hundreds of hours…. Also adding this strain to the growlist
@Northern_Ent, 100% agrée. I do think there are well intentioned people in the indoor market but commercial production is antithetical with low/no-emissions. But commercial or clandestine large-scale indoor grows are here to stay until people are allowed to grow their own stuff.
When I lived in Holland, I loved getting outdoor, especially as my day smoke.
@musashi_miyamoto, I thought I had replied already but growdiaries doesn’t show it. Oh well, just saying yes I agree but nothing beats good homegrown outdoor. I think the conversion is 1 g dried indoor weed is equivalent to burning 2 L of gasoline.
When we had the wildfires here in so cal, I ended up washing all of my bud at harvest. You will be happy you did when you see what comes off.
Now I wash every outdoor grow. 2 step process. It’s one more thing to do, but it ensures contaminate free product. I see no reduction in potency. It takes an additional 8hrs in curing time. Washing takes less than 30 minutes per plant.
@Todzilla, a freeze dryer is also great for making hash. I saw a video about “world’s best hash” in Barcelona at Spannabis this year and I realized that I could easily make it that way. Piatella hash just involves wrapping freeze dried resin in cellophane and leaving it in the freezer for a couple months. No pressing required. I’m excited to try that with this year’s crop. I find making hash to be almost more fun than growing. 👍 cheers.
@Northern_Ent, I would love to freeze dry. I freeze about 5lbs fresh bud/trim for hash each run.
It wasn’t the smoke, it was the ash…. But the other crap that washed off made me change. Try a cola and see if anything comes off.
I use a 2-bucket system: water with lemon juice and baking soda, and a distilled water rinse bucket.
https://www.royalqueenseeds.com/us/blog-bud-washing-how-to-clean-your-weed-n1429#:~:text=But%20aren't%20cannabis%20flowers,impact%20its%20flavour%20and%20effects.
But I live in LA, so I imagine it’s pretty dirty here compared to where you live!!
I do hang dry the fresh freeze before freezing 50% of the time, depending how busy the harvest run is.
Cheers Long Beach
@Todzilla, I’ve done that before but I freeze dry my flower which kills any and all micro organisms. I doubt the smoke is actually enough to taint the bud, and it will mostly be made into hash which involves several washing steps anyway. Freeze drying is great for a bunch of reasons BTW and I recommend it.
@Todzilla, thank you. These are looking pretty good despite a few caterpillars and other problems. I’m just thinking practice, practice, practice and how much fun it is to grow cannabis outdoors.
I had one of my Durbans get blown over 2x. She was def stressed and it definitely fcked up its flowering in terms of density, but still turned out nice and frosty . Hoping yours doesn’t get stressed from it
Nice man can I ask how do u dry it out Iv jjst made around an ounce and I didn’t realise u need a freeze drier so I just froze it and used a herb grater to grind it down and dry out as a dust
@Northern_Ent,thanks man I think my problem was I made a huge block and left it for 48 hours and it was still holding a lot of moisture inside rendering it usless and I’m inpatient so I froze it lol
@Civicgrows, that should be okay. Freeze drying is preferred because everything is uniformly dry with no micro-organisms surviving. If improperly dried you’re at risk of mould. A dry dust sounds like it will dry properly so you should be good. You can also avoid problems by using it up quickly. Cheers.
@Rangaku, Harvest Right large home. Was bought four years ago for a licensed cannabis farm. Buds come out too dry but looking great and easy to rehydrate to right moisture content. I totally prefer my freeze dried buds to the regular commercial stuff. But a freeze dryer is especially great for making hash. Even a small freeze dryer could make a lot of hash.
@Aedaone, thank you, and congrats on your win. Hopefully the cut off date will be a bit later this year. I’m going to try the Sour Jealousy auto this summer, if the prizes arrive in time.
Loving this grow bud! Sadly I had to early harvest my Blueberry Hugel grow today, super early but too much bud rot to let it go further. I fimmed way too much this year as i knew Blueberry was not best with mold, and I'm on the island (98% humidity the last 3 weeks). Wanted to say next year my plan is to do Gorilla Cookies FF with a 16 cola mainline just like your grow. So ill be going back to this next year!
Where'd you get GC FF Fastbuds seeds in
Canada if you dont mind me asking??!
@Arcadium, I **cough** asked them for them. If you’re a good grower on here producing good diaries (which you are), they’ll likely be willing to discreetly set you up.