Fruity Durban (Serious Seeds)

bobbygrow This is where the first problems started. The seedlings came out quite deformed and showed slow growth. More details can be seen later in the grow, but as a small spoiler: the leaf issue corrected itself over time. Unfortunately, due to frustration and other life circumstances, I did not take many photos during this stage. I ask for your understanding.

bobbygrow During the second week of the vegetative stage, the plants continued to grow, but still rather slowly. Development was ongoing, though somewhat sluggish.

bobbygrow By week 3, the deformities had mostly grown out. The third plant, which was the most stunted, was also potted. I plan to try growing this one organically, but more on that in the coming weeks.

bobbygrow This week, the plants were moved into the larger tent and received about 300 PPFD at roughly 30 cm distance from the light. They were also transferred into their final pots and fed with the full veg nutrient schedule. Early on, watering twice a week was sufficient, done entirely by hand. The third plant, grown organically, was also potted. It remained the weakest and slowest-growing of the group.

bobbygrow This week, the plants grew only a little and began showing noticeable deficiencies despite accurate feeding. For context, I use a custom nutrient calculator I created, which allows me to precisely adjust my feed water, taking into account calcium and magnesium levels in both the tap water and the fertilizer to achieve the exact desired result. At this point, I was close to giving up on the grow out of frustration, as the plants weren’t responding as expected and I couldn’t figure out the problem. I was also in contact with Serious Seeds for advice, but we’ll see how things progress. I only took one photo this week since there was hardly any visible progress. 🙂

bobbygrow And suddenly, things started happening. The plant is recovering, gaining strength, and slowly beginning to really perform. This was a joyful moment of hope for me, showing that this grow might actually work out. 😉 I still didn’t have to water much, but the plant clearly drank more than before. I can’t say exactly how much, since the 50/50 coco-perlite mix is very airy and makes it practically impossible to overwater.

bobbygrow I unfortunately forgot to take photos during week 7, so I can only describe what happened. The plant continued to recover and perform well, and I topped it—just a few branches per plant. By this time, the plant was thirsty enough to be connected to the Autopot system. I’m using two 20L FlexiPots connected to a 47L tank, which I only fill to a maximum of 40L. Week 8 – Vegetative Stage Week 8 went even better. As expected, the plant’s water demand increased, which could be seen from the Autopot tank emptying day by day. The plant recovered well from topping. This week, I only took one photo. 🙂

bobbygrow On March 8th, the plants were switched to flowering. The light timer was set to 12/12. Quite quickly, the typical flowering stretch began as expected. The nutrient schedule was switched to the full flowering regimen immediately. I didn’t use a pre-flower schedule, going straight to the full flowering nutrients. Out of pure laziness haha, I decided to skip all training methods this time and just let the plants do their thing, which is something I haven’t done in a while. If the buds get too heavy later on, I’ll figure something out—maybe plant yoyos or some kind of DIY support solution.

bobbygrow The stretch was strong this week. The plant stayed healthy, performed well, and showed vigorous growth. However, due to how quickly it became very bushy, I had to defoliate earlier than planned to reduce the risk of mold. This was done at the end of the second week of flowering. After defoliation, light penetration improved significantly. I’m considering another, lighter defoliation in the coming weeks, mainly to improve airflow and overall plant health. I’m curious to see how it develops. 😄

bobbygrow At this point, it’s clearly visible how the buds are continuing to develop. The plant is still growing but is now coming out of the stretch phase, shifting its focus from vertical growth to bud development and maturation. One very positive observation is that the plant seems quite resilient to fluctuations in temperature and humidity. There are slight tip burns visible, but nothing serious, so I’ll continue with the current approach for now. Water uptake remains strong as well. Additionally, the pH was adjusted from 5.8 to 6.0 to slightly improve calcium and magnesium uptake. 😎

bobbygrow When I returned from a short weekend trip and opened the tent, I was immediately hit by a strong aroma that reminded me of the early days of my smoking experience—good old-school weed with a fruity and slightly harsh note (if you can call it that, since I only got into cannabis around 2013/2014, before today’s “new wave” really took off, at least where I’m from). Trichomes are now clearly visible, and the buds are starting to swell more. I’m very curious to see how things will develop from here and how the aroma might change over time. 😊🌿✨

bobbygrow The plant on the left seems to be showing some calcium/magnesium-related issues and is starting to yellow. I suspect this phenotype is simply less vigorous overall. The plant on the right is handling everything much better and appears less affected. Aside from that, it’s clear that the trichome production is increasing significantly, and the buds are swelling nicely and becoming beautifully frosty. We’ll see how things continue to develop. 🌱✨