Red Tropicana Cookies Summergrow

Zengrower Week 1–8 | Better late than never 😅🌱 Hi Cannabis friends, Due to being extremely busy with work and private life, I unfortunately never got around to starting a proper diary from day 1 of this grow. But now that the plant has developed into such a beautiful lady, it would honestly be a shame not to immortalize her on GrowDiaries 😅. So here it is: the very much long overdue grow diary of the Auto Red Tropicana Cookies by Dutch Passion! ❤️🍪 Red Tropicana Cookies is a strain I have grown and documented before. That previous round was done in the Minigrow and actually went pretty well. Especially the quality and colour of the buds were seriously impressive. Deep, dark purple and almost black in some places. Definitely one of the most beautiful plants I have grown so far. The only thing I slightly regretted afterwards was the fact that, because of the limited space in the Minigrow, the final yield was obviously relatively small. During a visit to Dutch Passion, they were kind enough to give me a few more Auto Red Tropicana Cookies seeds for another round. Obviously, I didn't have to think twice about that 😎. Once I got home, it didn't take long before I started germinating them. Just like during my first grow with this strain, germination was fast and completely trouble-free. Within a few days, both seeds had popped and were ready to go into the soil. In the end, I selected the strongest-looking one to continue with. And looking back, that turned out to be a very good choice 💪. From the start, she grew nice and compact and developed into a healthy, strong plant. I briefly considered topping her, but everything seemed to indicate that she wasn't going to stretch too aggressively. That was also something I remembered from my previous Red Tropicana Cookies in the Minigrow. Although with autoflowers, it always remains a bit of a gamble of course 😉. So I decided to simply let her do her thing. When the first buds started to develop, there was obviously one thing I was especially curious about: would this plant also produce those insanely dark purple buds again? I'll admit it... I'm a real sucker for purple cannabis plants 😂💜. But this lady clearly had different plans. The buds started out completely fresh green and for quite a long time there wasn't really anything special happening colour-wise. Until we reached week 8... And then things suddenly started to get interesting. The buds are slowly developing a red glow ❤️. And I'm not talking about the usual purple or lilac fade you sometimes see towards the end of flowering. Some parts are actually starting to turn red. Very unusual and, more importantly, absolutely beautiful to watch. The development of the buds themselves also keeps surprising me. They have become incredibly dense and pretty damn big. Every time I look at the plant and think, “Well, this is probably about as far as she'll go”, new little bulges suddenly start appearing from the buds. Which then begin swelling up themselves 😅. It almost feels like the buds just keep building on top of themselves. As for the smell, I'm luckily getting exactly what I was hoping for. That same complex and intensely fruity aroma I still remember from my previous round. It's difficult to pick out one specific fruit because there are so many different sweet and fruity scents mixed together. But subtle she definitely is not 😂. I'm very glad I replaced my carbon filter before this grow, because she is seriously starting to stink. As soon as I open the GTools, the smell pretty much fills the room instantly. We have now reached week 8 and from this point onwards I will keep the diary properly updated every week until harvest. I'm especially curious to see how far that red colouring will develop and just how much thicker those buds can still get. Until the next update ✌️🌱❤️

Zengrower Hey Cannabis friends, What an incredible plant this has turned out to be. At the end of week 9, just as she was heading into week 10, I gave the trichomes on the upper colas a thorough inspection. Most had turned cloudy, with a noticeable number of amber trichomes beginning to appear among them. The buds looked fully mature, beautifully swollen and ready to come down. Since a staggered harvest worked so well for my Fat Vino — Pink Rosay x The Ultimate — I decided to try the same approach again. The main colas on this plant had grown so large that they were blocking a considerable amount of light from reaching the lower buds. By harvesting the top section first, I am hoping the remaining flowers will benefit from the extra light and have a little more time to ripen and bulk up. It worked surprisingly well last time, so I am very curious to see whether the Red Tropicana Cookies responds in the same way. The harvested colas are seriously impressive. They are large, dense, beautifully shaped and completely coated in a thick layer of sticky trichomes. Trimming them was one of those jobs where everything quickly starts sticking to your fingers and scissors 😂. This particular phenotype never developed the deep purple colours I saw during my previous grow, but I finally understand where the “Red” in Red Tropicana Cookies comes from. The flowers have developed a gorgeous reddish glow that runs through the buds. It is not the usual purple or lilac colouring you sometimes see late in flower, but a genuinely warm red tone. Combined with the green leaves, orange pistils and heavy frosting, it gives the buds a really distinctive appearance. The aroma is exactly what I was hoping for as well. It is intense, sweet and fruity, with a complex tropical character that is difficult to describe as one single scent. She certainly lives up to her name in both appearance and aroma. I am once again using the Dry Rocket for the drying process. It gave me excellent results during my previous harvests, producing evenly dried flowers with a great texture and aroma, so there was no reason to change a winning method. This is not a sponsored post, by the way 😅. I am simply very happy with how easy it is to use. The app allows me to follow the drying conditions around the clock, so I can keep an eye on the temperature, humidity and progress without constantly opening the unit or relying on guesswork. The lower half of the plant will stay under the light for a few more days. With the huge main colas now gone, the remaining buds are receiving much better light exposure, so I am interested to see whether they still have some extra swelling left in them. The full harvest report will follow once the rest of the plant has been chopped and is drying. I will then share the final dry weight, the aroma after drying and, once the cure is underway, the flavour and effects. I will also be at Cannafair on August 21, so feel free to come and say hello if you are there as well. Red Tropicana Cookies is quickly becoming one of my all-time favourite strains, and I am always happy to talk about this beautiful plant with other growers and enthusiasts. Until the next update ✌️🌱❤️

Zengrower Today it was finally time for the second and final stage of the harvest. There were still a few smaller buds that probably could have continued swelling for several more days, but in the end I had to make a practical decision: I needed the space. The large colas from the first harvest are currently drying in the drying tent with the Dry Rocket. That method has given me beautifully and evenly dried flowers in previous runs, although the process does take a little longer. Because the Dry Rocket was already fully occupied, the remaining “small” buds had to be dried in a drying net inside the GTools cabinet. And I use the word small very loosely here 😅. I honestly was not expecting much weight from the lower half of the plant, but the second harvest still came in at well over 500 grams wet. That brings the total wet weight of this plant to almost 1,600 grams, grown in only 0.35 m² under a 135-watt light. Not bad at all for the buds that were supposedly left behind 😂. The staggered harvest appears to have worked very well again. After removing the main colas, the lower flowers received far more light and had some additional time to mature, tighten up and gain weight. Several of them became much denser than I had expected. The timing is slightly complicated, though. The autoflowers in my outdoor greenhouse will probably also be ready to harvest within the next two weeks. There is always a chance that I may need to bring them down sooner if I find any signs of bud rot. So the drying schedule has turned into a bit of a puzzle. With a little luck, everything should fit together perfectly. By the time the outdoor plants are ready, the Red Tropicana Cookies should be dry and ready to move into curing jars. In approximately two weeks, I should finally be able to enjoy these beautiful Red Tropicana Cookies buds and share the full smoke report, including the aroma, flavour, effect and final dry weight. For now, I am already extremely happy with the result. Until the smoke report ✌️🌱❤️