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Set Up:
3x3 Gorilla Grow tent
Electric Sky 180 wideband LED grow light
6" Hyper fan for passive air intake/exhaust system
2 x 6" Secret Jardin monkey oscillating fans
Vivosun 5 gallon fabric pots
Coco-Loco growing medium
Gaia Green organic soil amendments
So, here we are again at the start of another grow cycle and I’ve decided to try something completely new. I’m giving up the bottled nutrients and going all organic. I’m following a grow technique being used by a Canadian grower by the name of "Mr. Canucks Grow". He uses CoCo Coir that has been amended with Gaia Green Organic Dry fertilizer. At the very start, this grower is adding 4 tablespoons of fertilizer per gallon of medium and it’s a 75/25% split of the grow to bloom fertilizer. Well, my hubby picked up the wrong CoCo (CoCo LoCo by Fox Farms) so I don’t have to add anything to this medium for about 4 weeks. The CoCo LoCo is a mixture of composted forest humus, CoCo Coir, bat guano, earthworm castings, oyster shells, perlite and dolomite lime for PH adjustment. When using this method of organic growing, the main concern is protecting the valuable microbial life within the medium/root zone and this is done by simply watering when almost dry with de-chlorinated water at a PH of 6.5-6.8. This may seem high for a CoCo grow but this mixture (CoCo LoCo) seems to be more like soil as it stays wet much longer and it’s packed full of organic goodies/microbes. I’m hoping that I can simplify the entire grow process as well as save some $ by going organic and hopefully I’ll achieve a beautiful harvest as well. I’m watering these seedlings every second day with 250-500 mls (a standard disposable plastic water bottle). Thanks for stopping by and checking out my grow!
Sorry, I’m late with the week two update. Not much to report, still just using nothing but PH’d water and all three plants are growing well. I will be starting with CalMag at the end of week two/start of week three as a preventative measure. I have found in my previous grows that waiting to give the Calcium/Magnesium supplement until problems start to show is difficult. So this grow I’m starting early in the hopes that I can avoid these issues all together. It’s been nice and warm here and the humidity levels have been quite high and these seedlings are thriving because of it. I’m still watering with nothing but PH’d water, every second day and I’m up to approximately 1 litre per plant. Thanks for stopping by and we’ll see you next week!
End of week 3 and still not much to do. Adding 3 mls of CalMag to one gallon of water and PH’ing to 6.5-6.6. All three plants have started stretching so I’m using some light LST to open up the lower branches thus allowing for more light penetration to the bottom half of the plant. Still watering every second day but these girls are thirsty so they’re up to 2 litres per plant. All three plants are showing their female sex by popping out long, white pistols everywhere so they are transitioning into flower a little earlier than I had hoped for. Other than that, no problems so far and it’s on to the next week. Thx for checking in and happy growing!
Sorry, I’m late again with the week 4 update but summer is sooo busy around here... All three plants have doubled in height and are looking really promising after only one month. Because I’ve been following a fellow Canadian grower’s technique, it calls for amending the medium at the 4 week mark. But because I started with the CoCo LoCo which seems to be heavily amended to start with, I wasn’t quite sure what to do. I decided to top dress with the Gaia Green Organic Dry fertilizer simply because all three plants are quickly transitioning into flower and I figured they could use the extra food. When top dressing/amending the medium, Mr Canucks Grow recommends 2 tablespoons of fertilizer per gallon of medium at a 50/50 ratio of grow to bloom fertilizer. I simply loosened up the top layer of CoCo, added the dry amendments and watered as usual. Still watering every second day with PH’d water at a rate of 2-2.5 litres per plant. I’ve also upped the CalMag to 3.5 mls per gallon and so far absolutely no problems with yellowing lower leaves as I’ve had in previous indoor grows. Thx for ur interest in my grow and hopefully u check in again next week, happy growing!
So, end of week 5 and these plants have stretched like crazy! The tallest is now at 4’ and all of them have long branches, lots of bud sites and a very low leaf to bud ratio. Not a great strain for dealing with/correcting health issues within the plant as there aren’t many fan leaves to potentially lose. But if all works out, a great strain for easy trimming as there aren’t many leaves to trim either. They seem to have responded well to last week’s top dressing/amendment using the Gaia Green Organic Dry Fertilizer. Due to cooler temps where I live, the plants are drinking less water so I’m watering when needed- I use an inexpensive moisture meter to check when in doubt. I’m now watering these girls using 2x1 gallon jugs between all three plants, so approximately 2.5-3 litres per plant per feeding (1-1.5 litres per plant per day). All three plants are pretty much fully into flower now, starting to purple out beautifully and the buds are bulking up already! Super excited about these gals... 😍 Dutch Passion Auto Blackberry Kush!
End of week 6 and all is well within the tent. The plants are still stretching a bit but have slowed considerably and I’m very happy with the overall height/size of this strain. As the plants purple out, resin production has also begun and the smell is becoming more noticeable- a lovely fruity assault of the senses when opening the zipper of the tent. I have done some light defoliation this past week focusing on the largest, oldest fan leaves first and then removing leaves blocking prime bud sites. Temperatures have remained cooler than average in my area so the plants are drinking a little less water than I originally expected. I am still watering every 2-3 days or as needed so 2x 1 gallon jugs or 2 gallons between all three plants per feeding. I am really happy with my 1st all organic grow using the CoCo LoCo and the Gaia Green fertilizer. It’s been way less work when watering/feeding, way less $ going out on bottled nutrients, no flushing and no major health problems with the plants so far. Thx for stoppin by and I’ll update again at the end of next week.
So, it’s the end of week 7 and these ladies are looking great! All three plants have stopped stretching and reached their final heights. The tallest is at 52" and it’s a 50/50 mixture of green/purple. The medium sized plant is 50" and the least purple of the three with only mauve coloured calyxes. The shortest is at 48" and it’s by far the purplest of the group with a truly black/purple colour throughout the bud and surrounding leaves. I am still watering every 2nd to 3rd day for the two largest ladies and every 4th day for the shorty- she’s just not sucking up the same volume of water as the larger plants. I am using aerated tap water, PH’d to 6.5-6.6 to protect/nurture the valuable microbial life within the plants soil/root zone. I have upped the CalMag for the largest two plants as they are both showing signs of a mild Calcium deficiency with some rust spots on the upmost fan/sugar leaves. So it’s 5 mls/gallon for the two biggest plants and 3.5 mls/gallon for the shortest. I’m not sure if I’m going to top dress/amend these plants again as they are not showing any signs of being hungry and there’s only a few weeks to go. The Gaia Green fertilizers recommend that you stop feeding your plants 3-4 weeks prior to harvest so I think it’s probably PH’d water, CalMag and maybe some molasses from this point on. Just water and wait! So cheers until next week and happy growing!
End of week 8 and all three of these plants are gorgeous! The medium and smallest girls have put so much weight on at the top of the plants that they are leaning significantly without support. So, i’ve had to use some bamboo stakes with string to keep them standing as straight as possible. Because I’m not amending the medium again before harvest, I’m adding some Fox Farm Big Bloom and molasses to the water to feed the microbial life in the roots. The fox farm is all organic and it’s almost like a watered down compost tea and the molasses is just something I picked up at my local grocery store. I’m still watering all three plants every 2-3 days- temperature dependant. It’s 2 gallons between all three plants and I’m adding the CalMag, Fox Farm, molasses- all PH’d down to 6.5-6.6. The resin production has really picked up this past week and the smell is outstanding! Unfortunately even with the exhaust fan running at a good speed, the unmistakable smell of an almost ripe harvest is starting to escape the tent. Still removing leaves at the top of the two tallest plants as the Calcium deficiency is slowly damaging the foliage. Nothing major though, two maybe three weeks left, pistols are starting to turn orange and it’s time to start checking trichomes as harvest quickly approaches! Happy growing and thx for checking out my grow...😁
It’s the end of week 9, moving into week 10- the recommended harvest week for the Blackberry Kush Auto strain according to Dutch Passion. I have stopped using the CalMag, extra fertilizer and molasses so it’s nothing but plain, aerated, PH’d water for these ladies until harvest. Stopping everything at the beginning of week 9 allows for 2-3 weeks of the plants being able to feed on themselves and start to yellow out. Although i’m not quite sure when i’m going to harvest these plants- they might not have that long... I’ve got some cloudy trichs already as well as some trich degradation too so i’m just going to take it a few days at a time. I’ve continued defoliating all three plants as the Calcium deficiency is slowly damaging those uppermost leaves. The smell is quite strong as this strain is extremely resinous and I’ve had to tie up more branches this past week as they are flailing out due to bud weight. It’s all good and i’ll update again at the start of week 11. Thx and happy growing!
So it’s the end of week 10 and i’ve decided to give these girls one more week! Most of the trichomes are clouding over and they should be 100% there by the end of week 11. Almost all of the hairs are rusty/orange and beginning to recede back into the calyxes creating that beautiful pineapple/pinecone effect. The smell off these plants is very strong and a carbon filter for this strain is a must if trying to keep things on the down low. Some of the foliage is starting to yellow out now due to lack of feeding but i did give one final application of molasses just to keep the medium/root zone happy. So next Monday is the end of week 11 and these plants will go into complete darkness for 3 days. They will be harvested after these 3 days on the Friday of week 12. Unless they start to amber out too quickly, this is the plan. I will check back in at the end of the week, till then all the best and thx for checking out my grow!
Week 11 is done and so are these plants! It’s into the dark for the next 3 days and then harvest this coming weekend on Day 81 from seed. Last watering was Day 76 so these plants will be quite dry when chopped. The hope is that the dark/dry conditions will cause the plant to stress and produce more resin/trichomes in a last ditch effort to survive. Next update will be the harvest pics and estimated weights of the grow. See you then, thx for checkin things out and happy growing/harvesting!!! 😍
***update- plants have been chopped and all pics/final weights will be posted shortly!***
Dutch Passion Auto Blackberry Kush definitely lives up to it’s name with a beautiful dark purple colouring and a notable fruity smell and flavour. I chose to grow this strain based on other grower’s positive reviews and of course- their incredible photos! As promised, the BBK’s are a joy to grow and photograph as the various phenotypes display a wide range of gorgeous purple hues. As far as the smoke is concerned- it’s hard to say at this point as the buds are just over a week into cure. There is a sweet/fruity undertone accompanied by the typical earthy/woody flavour of uncured bud. Hopefully in 7 weeks when all is said and done, I will be left with the super fruity/berry product that everyone raves about in their GD reviews. I will say however that the effects of this strain are quite enjoyable! It definitely ticks the "Indica" box for me as it’s a very relaxing buzz both mentally and physically. I’ve often read that the purple strains of Cannabis offer more medicinal benefits and in my opinion the BBK is no exception. I can feel my muscles relaxing almost immediately upon smoking/vaping and it seems to offer some mild pain relief as well. I find the buzz to be mild to moderate, less intense off the start but lasting longer than most for at least 2 hours. This is a great evening pot as it’s a pleasant downer at the end of a long day. I would definitely recommend my fellow growers try this strain just for the purples themselves but the smoke is pretty good too! Another successful grow using the ever impressive genetics of Dutch Passion.
Dutch Passion Auto Blackberry Kush- easy to grow as these plants grew strong and vigorous from the very start. Good size at just over 4 ft for all three plants although the next time I grow this strain, I will be topping/LST’ing for a shorter, bushier plant shape. A low leaf to bud ratio makes this strain easy to trim but leaves little room for error when diagnosing/treating plant issues affecting the foliage. The purple colours throughout this grow were nothing short of outstanding and I think after a full cure- the smoke is going to be really good too! The final dry weight for these 3 plants is 207 grams, so just under half a pound in 12 weeks from seed to harvest. Not my largest indoor haul but not too shabby either. This was the first time that I placed my dry, ripe plants into darkness for 3 days prior to harvest. I wanted to see if this would stress them out enough that they would produce more resin in a last ditch effort to survive. Unfortunately I did not see any obvious increase in trichomes and I believe that the darkness thing might be a bit of an "urban legend". I will grow this strain again in future as I’m pleased with the quality of both the pot and the buzz. The Auto Blackberry Kush is perfect for smoking and relaxing... another must grow by the folks over at Dutch Passion.
@BermyZH, so apparently putting the plants into the dark for 2-3 days/no water really stresses them out. Causing them to think and react to "the end is near!" Some growers feel that the plants produce more resin/trichomes in a desperate last effort to pollinate= seeds= self preservation. I’ve never tried this before so i’m going to shoot before/after pics and see if i can notice any real difference. Hopefully i open the tent up after 3 days and they’re dripping with sticky goodness, we’ll see!
@kitkat332986, i hope these girls fatten up a lot more too... the lower buds have doubled in size the past week but the upper buds are just putting on resin- lots of resin. Although the upper canopy could have been better, the buds are rock hard. All three plants have been staked up now as they are leaning dramatically without any support. The weight on the top half of these girls is impressive and i look forward to a decent haul from just 3 plants. Gotta love Dutch Passion- always reliably good bud and healthy, heavy yielding plants! Thx for checking out the grow.
@Philindicus, hopefully they’re huge! As large as my Auto Ultimate’s would be nice but I don’t think they’ll grow quite as big. Looking forward to the dark purple buds though, hopefully I end up with 3 different phenos!
@Philindicus, actually i take a small break to start my summer outdoor grow every year. I enjoyed a few weeks in beautiful Portugal too! Thx for welcoming me back and the sour crack is running a little low...😏
Nice haul they held their color nicely after drying. I have heard about stressing plants out to increase resin/terpene content. In the first week or two of bloom I have been using some branch pinching and something I've coined "half cropping" which is essentially super cropping to a lesser degree. Instead of bending the branch to 90 degrees I lightly roll and slightly squeeze the branch then slightly bend the branch creating some stress to the site it heals very quickly. Then using a bit of drought stress during the last stages of bloom. I've been backing my lights off during the last 10 days during ripening. I believe California LightWorks recommends decreasing the amount of red spectrum light during the ripening stage. https://news.californialightworks.com/what-is-the-best-led-spectrum-for-growing/
Although there have been some studies claiming uv-b light increases trichome/thc development no studies to my knowledge have been done to disprove that uv-a light doesn't do the same thing as uv-b. A lot of LED light manufacturers are adding uv-a to their bloom lights. I am not a chemist so I'm reaching here but I would think the 72 hours of dark would slow down or stop photosynthesis which will force the plant to stop producing chlorophyll and force it to feed or move sugars to its extremities like the leaves and buds. I would think it would be helpful in speeding up the curing process we go through getting the chlorophyll and sugars to break down to improve the over all burning/smoking quality. I would also have to say that Auto flower strains potentially may produce less terpenes than photo period strains based on how much Cannabis Ruderalis genetics they contain.
"update- plants have been chopped", ha, I know that one, you're thinking 'hey I'm gonna leave it till it's fully ripe', it doesn't change much day by day then one day you walk in and suddenly everything is screaming the 'time has arrived'. It's almost magical.
Momgrowsthechronic
