Desert Skunk

S4nchi Alrighty. Eventually, the seeds germinated and the desert babies were set outside in small pots in last year's tomato soil. No fresh nutes at this stage. I guess this variety doesn't need heavy fertiziling anyway. Beldia eats rocks or something? We'll see. Covering the babies with a plastic bottle dome each should offer some protection for a while. Damn birds, they snatched the Jackie seedlings I was also growing but that's another story.

S4nchi The skunky funky babies were placed into their final pots of 11 liters. The soil is a custom mix consisting of recycled terra preta tomato soil of the previous year, pimped with vermiculite, sand, worm compost, and horse manure compost. Lezz go girls!

S4nchi This week was rather cold, wet and grey. However, the skunky babies managed to grow a bit. One of the three sisters looks still a bit pale, I'll observe her closely. To enhance root growth, planties were fed with diluted aloe juice. I also added nematodes to the soil to keep bad stuff away. The upcoming days will get sunnier and warmer, let's see how they develop.

S4nchi The desert girls are well on track. They're super vigorous and it's fun fun fun to watch them getting bigger day by day. They're now tall and old enough to be switched from top watering to wick bottom watering. Just in time for the massive heat wave which has been predicted for the upcoming days. It makes watering so much easier. I just love my AC Infinity pods. Like in basically each of my grows, the pot surface was covered with douglas pine mulch about an inch thick. It helps to reduce water consumption and to prevent the precious micro-life from getting toasted. It also helps keeping bugs away. Not to mention the wonderful smell of a summer pine forest, of course. Will the desert skunkies live up to the expectations when the temperature indeed climbs to desert levels? Only one way to find out, next week.

S4nchi How did the funky skunkies take the heat wave with 40°C on the sunny balcony? The answer is, like champs. They were literally soaking up sun and heat and converted them in plant growth, more than doubling their size within a week. All three plants look pretty uniform, there's no phenotype variation noticeable at least as of this stage. An indication how much effort the breeder put into stabilizing this strain. I'm sure I'm not the only one who rubs the stem to get a whiff of the aroma that is yet to come. In this case, it's a funky, slightly pungent smell reminiscent of rucola and sweet mustard, I guess this the Skunk #1 heritage shining through. Pleasant all the way. Good stuff.

S4nchi The Desert Skunkies continue on their march to the sky, showing vigorous growth and high uniformity. Side branches are developing nicely. I decided not to top nor train them and to just let them do their thing. Being outdoor, I don't have a height limit. This being my first time growing this strain, I'm curious to see how it develops without tampering. The only limit the plants have is the 11l pot. Everything's looking fine.

S4nchi The Desert Skunkies made another jump in height. They look fabulous. White pistils are showing up around the tips which means we're in the pre-flowering stage now. I wonder if they will stretch any further. Being a sativa-dominant with rather large internodial distances but not too thin leaves, anything can happen. Next week's weather is going to be bright, hot, dry and sunny. Perfect weather for a desert queen.

S4nchi The Skunky Funkies have continued to conquer the sky, now measuring an impressive 120 cm. No flowers in sight yet. The heat wave of the last couple of days is coming to a temporary halt and we're getting some time to breathe. Since some of the leaves looked a little pale, I chose to complement the bottom watering with occasional showers from the top which is otherwise really dry. Top watering also includes a splash of liquid guano nutes for tomatoes cos why not.

S4nchi The Desert Skunky Funkies have reached 150 cm. They’re tall with large internodials distances as you would expect from a proper Sativa. Maybe I should have topped them earlier but height isn’t the problem on my balcony. Width is. So for this run, let's enjoy the impressive size of these beauties. The white pistils I first oberved two weeks ago have grown all over the places up to the top. In fact, with the tips now covered, I declare this penultimate week of July the beginning of the flowering phase. Buds don’t smell yet of course. However, stem rubbing gives off a whiff of Rucola and Eucalpytus candy. It‘s still decent but it’s there. I’m curious where this leads.

S4nchi Alright, the Skunky Funkies have reached 180 cm. The sky is the limit I guess? I had to tie them up as the wind occasionally blows hard on the upper decks. I mentioned upon the uniformity of the plants a few weeks ago and things haven't changed a bit. It's pretty amazing considering they're not clones but seed plants. As for the aroma on stem rubbing, we're not pretty sure. While I think of rosemary and parmesan, my peers insist it's basil. Anyway, it's cool af. Can't wait for them to finally get into full bloom. Since the bottom fan leaves turn slightly yellowish, the desert queens are getting top-fed with a mix of liquid tomato nutes and molasse. They're pretty thirsty now and consume about 3 liters per day. No surprises here, weather is still brutal.

S4nchi Tbh 200cm queens conquering the sky isn't quite what I expected when I started this balcony grow. There's just no way to hide the skunky ladies from curious bypassers, these plants can be seen from far away, proudly displaying all their beauty and vigor to the world. They're so tall now I can't even put them on one picture any more. Well, maybe from the other side of the road haha. It seems as if they soaked up all the heat and sunshine from past weeks and turned them directly into pure growth. As the weather slowly cools down for a bit, buds are developing nicely all over the plants. Occasional top-feeding with guano nutes and molasse continues. Apart from that, it's wick bottom-watering routine. They consume about 4 liters each per day. If it's hot, it's 5 liters.