In-House Genetics - Deluxe Sugar Cane

This is, more specifically, the "Deluxe" variant of the popular Slurricane cross: Sugar Cane. Deluxe Sugar Cane involves Slurmint instead of Slurricane, so presumably they've ironed the issues out of one of the best strains in recent memory. I've previously grown Super Cakes, Ego Freshies, Unicorn Sherbert, and High Definition from Cult Classics Seeds. The latter turned out particularly well and I am left with a high bar for quality among Indica dominants. Is a $250 pack of 10 seeds worth it? I hope so. For the price, I expect the strain not to be very picky, to produce heavily, and to appear highly reflective in photos. I'm growing four plants, each in a 13-gallon bucket, linked together as an RDWC system with another 13-gallon reservoir. I use the FloraSeries line of nutrients from General Hydroponics, which involves roughly a gallon and a half of each of their products: FloraMicro, FloraGro, FloraBloom, ArmorSi, CalMag, Diamond Nectar, and FloraNectar - don't forget the Liquid KoolBloom and Hydroguard. The result roughly doubles the cost of production and feels wholly unnecessary. You can do the same for much less. I'm growing under four 240w quantum boards I purchased on Alibaba. They're made by Kingbrite in Shenzhen. Two of them are 3500Ks and the other two are 3000Ks. I doubt it will make a difference. Anything less than four will not cover my tent's surface area, especially at the edges. I am measuring light exposure with a Lux meter, which I am aware is highly misleading. I usually keep the lights dimmed at 25% through veg and turn them up to 50% power during flowering. My germination technique is boring, and effective: I drop a seed into a Rapid Rooter and put it in a humidity dome with a $10 heating mat. I keep a humidifier in the same tent I germinate my seeds in, with a target humidity of 70%. I've only had one seed fail to show so far, and I might've just been impatient. For $250, I can be patient.

Most sensible people put their seedlings in rock wool cubes and soak them in nutrient solution; I opted to put my seedlings directly in my 13-gallon tanks. It's a waste of nutrients, but at this level of dilution - and this scale - I don't mind much. Hydroponics sounds like a pain in the ass, but it's not that bad. The worst part is having to sanitize the tanks between grows. I use FloraKleen and hydrogen peroxide in equal measure, run the system for 24 hours, then drain and refill. The roots don't yet extend to the bottoms of the net pots - this is the only week where I run water up to the level of the clay pebbles. There is the danger of soaking the Rapid Rooters, or leaving salts in the pebbles, but in practice I've never had a problem.

This "week" comprises over two weeks of waiting. As you can see, I topped the plants and bent them out. I wish I'd taken more pictures. What happened is that the plants went pale green, looked sickly for a few days, then recovered and produced a dark green indicative of nitrogen abundance. In the photo, they're slumped over because the tent runs hot - up to 84 degrees Fahrenheit in this muggy season. I keep multiple fans on, circulating air through the tent, but what I really need is AC. When I top plants, I kill the top node, keep the next two, and chop everything underneath. Some keep a third set of nodes, but I've found it easier to build a cross, especially if you're not committed to regular training.