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In my region, photoperiod plants can't be cultivated successfully. They simply don't finish flowering by the end of September when there can already be freezing temperatures, so the choice is limited to autoflowering and early flowering strains. While autoflowers are more or less straightforward, the situation with early flowering strains is not so simple. And it's important not to confuse them with fast versions. Many seed banks offer "Early" strains, but caution is necessary here
The concept of "early flowering" can vary depending on the region where the strains were developed. In my understanding, early flowering strains are photoperiod plants that start flowering with a day length of 14-16 hours
In my case, I chose early flowering strains from the local breeder Kuribin, whose genetics were based on Nucleon's work, who developed strains suitable for our conditionally northern latitudes.
I will be planting both by dry sowing and seedlings, not forgetting about mulching. Dry sowing is less preferable when having a limited number of seeds, as there may be issues with germination/survival due to various factors, but it saves time on germination and avoids transplant stress (this is more relevant for autoflowers). It's also necessary to hit the time window when the soil has warmed up to the optimal temperature (10°C) and hasn't become too dry yet.
Planting with seedlings is generally easier and less risky. It's preferable to plant early flowering strains with two-week-old seedlings, as they are less stressed compared to autoflowers, which might negatively react to transplanting. This season, I decided to try planting early flowering strains directly with seeds in the soil, and autoflowers as young 3-day-old seedlings. 😅
The germination rate with dry sowing was around 60% for me, as I was a bit late, and the top layer of the soil had already started to dry significantly. The seeds were planted on May 14th with temperatures of 17°C during the day and 8°C at night. The weather stayed hot for the next week, reaching up to 25°C during the day and 14°C at night. The first sprouts were noticed a week later (let's consider the 18th as the day when the early flowering strains shed their shells). They were very small. Seedlings needed to be prepared
I germinated the autoflowers in the usual way and placed them in prepared coconut pellets, pre-soaked in a weak compost with the addition of Radifarm.
May 25th: The seeds were soaked in water with peroxide.
May 26th: They showed roots.
May 27th: They were placed in coconut pellets.
May 28th: The first cotyledons appeared.
May 29th: Planted in the soil.
On that day, I took a small tea ceremony set with me to the plantation. After enjoying some very good pu-erh tea with a pleasant alertness, we got to work. I also took some photos and shot a few videos. Later, one of these photos would win the "June Photo Contest."
In the two weeks we didn't visit the plot, everything changed significantly. The early flowering plants are now over a meter tall. Their stems are robust, about 3 cm in diameter.
The autoflowers are also doing well, and some have even started to bloom. They are all about 80 cm tall. I'm very pleased with the results from the coconut pellets. I want to use this method for some of the early flowering plants next season. Overall, next year I want to focus more on experiments, training, and tests.
On this day, a giant two-meter Durban plant was discovered. The others seem quite small in comparison, even though they are all at least 1.5 meters tall now. Some have shown their gender
The autoflowers have really bushed out and are quite dense, so I'm worried about potential mold. As expected, all the LSD plants have a purple phenotype with a woody-earthy aroma and hints of spices, while the Chem Dog has developed a sweet fruity terpene profile with a tangy note.
I brought a microscope with me to check the trichomes. On the LSD plants, they have already turned cloudy, and surprisingly, some even have a significant amount of amber.
We immediately trim on-site and place the buds into vacuum bags for clothes for transportation. These bags with a pump are very convenient; it's best to use several bags: for example, fill a regular thick black bag with stuff, and then put this black bag into a vacuum bag to avoid punctures from branches.
For working with the buds, we got "snippers" — as it turns out, these are very convenient scissors for our task. It's a real pleasure to work with them.
The density of the buds is generally good, considering that this is wild outdoor cultivation in a fairly humid climate.
P.S. After 4 hours of trimming, we were exhausted and just ended up removing the fan leaves and non-sugary leaves.
In general, similar to the autoflowers, we collected at most a quarter of the total volume. We'll take it back and do the trimming on site.
Of course, you're interested in the numbers. In total, there were 14 trips to the plot. Mostly, we focused on weeding and foliar treatment. We harvested approximately 15 plants (10 autoflowers and 5 early bloomers). Altogether, we filled 4 containers each holding 6 liters. Each container fits 350-400 grams, which means there's about 1.5 kg in all the containers, plus a 2.5 kg bag of good trim.
Approximate yield per plant (inflorescences with a small amount of leaves!):
Early bloomers: around 150-200 grams per plant (we didn't collect the fattest buds because, unfortunately, they got moldy, so the numbers are approximate).
Autoflowers: around 70-90 grams per plant.
Harvi
