By continuing to use the website or clicking Accept you consent to our cookies and personal data policy and confirm that you are at least 18 year old. For details please see Privacy Policy and Terms
And so it begins! This one is for the Dutch Passion 2023 Competition. Thanks to Dutch Passion for the seeds, let's see if they're any good! I primed the seed by soaking it for 24 hours, then moved it to the peat pellet. I will spend its first week in a small plastic greenhouse on my windowsill.
This part of the grow is always the scariest, right? They are so fragile and sensitive: I am constantly afraid of breaking them. Nevertheless, she survived her first week! The first set of true leaves is showing and growth will become exponential from this point. For the first 5 days, I added a makeshift humidity dome made from a soda bottle, to keep the humidity up. On the last 2 days of this week, I removed the dome, and she is a bit shocked by the low humidity. Currently, it is very dry in my room, so it is quite a difference, but she will adapt. The light has been dimmed to around 40%, and I will slowly increase it to 60-70% over the next week.
To feed her, I built a slow-release fertilized soil with Greenhouse Feeding nutrients. I added 4 grams of BioGrow per litre of soil. When inserting the peat pellet into the soil, I added some beneficial bacteria and mycorrhizal fungi to set her up for the next few months. I watered with a bit of BioEnhancer, to stimulate the soil life. From now on, I only have to water with plain water and the nutrients in the soil will release over time to feed the plant.
The most fragile phase is over, phew! Tropical Tangie has had no issues so far and this is where she suddenly starts growing crazy fast. She is looking healthy, the leaves are a nice, dark shade of green. No more humidity dome this week, so she had to get used to pretty low humidity. The lights are slowly increasing, this week they were at 60% power. There isn't much more to say right now, I'm not feeding them anything, as the nutrients are slow-release. See you next week!
I love to see when a little plant starts exploding with new growth! Its root system is now well established, enhanced by mycorrhizal fungi and bacteria, and ready to support vigorous growth above the soil. The conditions in my cabinet are not ideal, the humidity is a bit low, leading to a high VPD, so the plant is really being pushed hard and shows a bit of stress. But when the ladies are big enough, they will create more humidity in the cabinet. I topped Tropical Tangie at the start of the week, to ensure she doesn't bump her head against the grow light and promote branching. A few days later I switched to a 12/12 light cycle, to kick off the flowering cycle. At the end of the week, I start with low-stress training to keep the canopy low and even. I topdressed the soil with 4 grams of BioBloom fertilizer per litre of soil to provide all the nutrients she will need in the flowering phase.
Training has begun! With the initiation of the flowering phase, the plants are eager to grow up, up, and up to have the best chance of seed dispersal. However, if you want to have a spot in my micro cabinet, you need to stay short and have a flat canopy, or else it won't work out. Clips attached to the edge of the fabric pot help pull down the stretching branches to create a level canopy. I also defoliated some big fan leaves to slow down the stretch on the big branches. Tropical Tangie is still looking vibrant and healthy, and growth is rapid. The slow-release organic fertilizer is doing its work so I don't need to worry about feeding her.
The first flowers are showing! 😍 Week 2 of flower and Tropical Tangie is coming along nicely. She is responding well to the training, and though she has stretched a bit since last week, it is controlled. Hopefully, next week will be the last bit of stretch. The scent in the cabinet is becoming a bit more pungent, but no specific, special aromas quite yet. I topdressed the soil with 1 gram of bloom fertilizer per litre of soil and watered with 1 gram of BioEnhancer per litre of water.
Tropical Tangie is getting "little dollops" now, according to my GF. In other words: flowers are getting bigger and are full of sticky pistils 😍 Tropical Tangie is growing really well, the plant is staying really compact and blooms are increasing in size and scent. Last week was the last feeding, and now the microbes in the soil are slowly releasing the nutrients as the plant needs them. She is getting thirstier, and I have to water every 2 or 3 days.
Flower production, baby! Tropical Tangie just doubled her flowers this week. The fruity, tropical smells are not quite there yet, it's a bit more skunky and earthy now. Vertical growth is finished, looks like she is staying at 33cm in height; very compact. She is also quite bushy, even after the major defoliation a while ago, I might pluck some more fan leaves next week. She is a bit sensitive to nutrients, as she is the only one showing signs of nutrient issues.
The flowering phase is in full swing and this was a good week for Tropical Tangie! The carbon filter is really having to prove itself because the girls are getting smelly. On the topic of growing equipment, let's talk a little bit about the setup! Currently, Tropical Tangie and two other cultivars are in my custom growing cabinet. The cabinet is built by myself and is all about stealth: it's super quiet, has no smell, and looks like an ordinary cabinet when the doors are closed. It has produced 3 harvests so far. It features an 80 W dimmable LED board, a fan & filter from AC Infinity, and small PC fans to create air movement inside. It's very small: 110 x 65 x 35 cm or 43.3 x 25.6 x 13.8 inches, so plant training for short plants has been the biggest challenge. Tropical Tangie is proving to be a dream for my cabinet as it stays very compact!
Tropical Tangie is really ripening now. The pistils are becoming orangy brown, the smells are getting more complex and sweet, and the buds are fattening up. The plant is not looking very pretty; the leaves are very dark green, while the other plants are starting to turn more yellow as the end of the grow is nearing. But she is going to pull through!
We are deep into flower right now with Tropical Tangie. She doesn't show signs of slowing down quite yet, bud development is still in full swing and the leaves are still a deep, dark green hue. The lady is looking particularly pretty, so I took some extra pictures, enjoy!
Sometimes things don't go the way you want to and are out of your control. That's precisely what happened to me last week. In the middle of summer, it wouldn't stop raining for over a week, causing the humidity to skyrocket in my room. That's the last thing you want in week 8 of flower, especially if you don't have something like a dehumidifier. So unfortunately I found a spot of botrytis developing on one of the main colas... I cut off the whole cola that was infected. The next day I found another spot, unfortunately, so I decided it was time to cut my losses and harvest what was left. I would have loved to let her ripen a week or two more, but that's life sometimes. Fortunately, there are still 2 big, main colas and lower buds left!
I was so excited about this strain: I love tropical strains, I love tangerine strains. So this must be the culmination of strains right? It didn't quite live up to the expectations. She grew quite nicely, a very compact structure but was very sensitive to nutrients. Near the end of the flowering phase, she developed botrytis... The structure of the plant had too little airflow and the buds were very dense. Managed to save quite a bit of the flowers. The dried flowers are compact, quite sticky but do not have a fruity flavour.
A veces pasa. Así se va aprendiendo. Uno también inventa soluciones que les sirven a los demás. Es difícil cuando el clima manda. Animo que quedaron algunas :D
@gottagrowsometime, no definitely more broad type of leaves. A friend of mine grew these and also had broad leaves. She is also bushy and compact, so I don't think it works well in a ScrOG setup...
Plant_Scientist
