Berry Bomb Auto Grow

Growing a single Berry Bomb Auto seed and really excited about it – harvest reportedly happens about 10 weeks from germination. Was going to buy through Seedsman but with Covid postal mailing complications they got overloaded with orders from my country and weren’t taking any more at the time, so I tried going directly to the guys that make the seeds – in this case, Bomb Seeds. This strain is a sativa/indica hybrid with ruderalis bred in for the autoflower trait, with a moderate THC level (15%-20%) and really tasty berry, fruity notes. Since it’s an auto with a quick turnover to harvest, I want to try to get her as big and luscious as possible before it’s time for harvest. To do that I think I want to build up the roots as much as possible – after some research, it seems like focusing on the root system initially will really help make her bigger as she properly veges. After reading other diaries and accounts on growing Berry Bomb Auto, I’m seeing that she responds well to light stress training and tends to grow fast, but isn’t exactly the largest gall in a grower’s tent. Still, I might try my hand at trellis netting – I’m seeing multiple first time growers of this particular strain mention they’d wished they’d done it for their own grows or think it would work well the next time they grow it. I ended up having to try a second seed when the first never germinated, so despite technically starting this process two weeks ago, this diary will start on week 1 of the second seed. 10/13 Started germination in a paper towel wet with filtered water and popped it in a Ziploc bag, then put it in my bathroom with the lights off and a space heater on. I figured nothing would happen tonight but I checked the seed anyway after a few hours, and no signs yet of any change. Because she’s meant to mature so quickly, Berry Bomb Auto is going to be ready before my first two will. So despite being my third seed, she may be my first ever harvest. 10/15 Checked on it this morning and nothing, but this afternoon I found a definite split in the seam. Dope. That means it’s time for me to move into prep stage for planting hopefully tomorrow, but potentially the day after. I decided to do some more prep-work with this one since I want to make the most out of this auto. I’ll be keeping her in a 5 gallon fabric pot from the get-go so she won’t get root bound and I won’t risk setting back growth time by shocking her with a transfer from a smaller pot. Another benefit should be extra aeration to the roots by using fabric – the only downside being that I may need to water a little more often and double check my humidity levels due to speedier rates of evaporation in the grow tent. Another downside is not being able to move the fabric pots or risk shocking or injuring roots, so I set up a plastic pot plate (water-catcher? Whatever the name is lol). That way if she needs to be moved, I can safely do so by holding the plate the pot is on instead. I’m putting her into Fox Farm soil I mixed with a dose Mykos, a pure mycorrhizal inoculant that contains at least 136,000 microbes per pound. It’s apparently a species of beneficial soil fungi that collects and stores both water and nutrients, increasing Berry Bomb Auto’s uptake of both. Since I’m putting her in a fabric pot she’s more likely to dry out, so it’ll help protect her against my noob-level experience while I give this a shot. Once I’m sure the taproot’s ready for transplant to soil, I’ll put a layer of Mykos around the seed itself. This will create a layer of sponge-like material filled with hydration and nutrients, giving the taproot a gentle roundhouse kick of energy to draw from. I put a light dose of cal mag in water and PH’d it before wetting the soil, mixing and fluffing it up to better distribute the moisture and aerate the dirt. I’m letting it just sit until it’s time to move the seed. I plan on watering with just the water/light cal mag until a few nodes have formed, then I’ll alternate the cal mag water and water I mixed with a light dose of veg stage plant food; making sure to PH balance after. 10/19 It’s interesting; the split seems to have widened some but there’s not a whole lot going on. I know it’s way too early to say this honestly, but this seed doesn’t seem right somehow. I couldn’t really tell you why. With my other seeds, once that crack happened the taproot popped out within a few hours – but to be fair I haven’t been as on it with the heat for this seed as I was with the others (which makes me think it’s time to just bite the bullet and get a seed heating-mat…probably one with the temp control/meter if I’m spending money on what is essentially a heated blanket for seeds anyway). Still though, where I live it’s already chilly and the time, attention, and effort I’m spending on my on-and-off heating the bathroom routine is starting to feel silly. 10/18 It’s a bummer, but the seed never really evolved past the cracking point. I finally called it and decided to give my second and only remaining seed a try by putting it in the fabric pot and misting the site before covering it with a bowl to protect the humidity and darkness. I think my other seed was dead on arrival anyway to be honest, and there wasn’t much I could have done with my current level of knowledge and experience. 10/20 I checked on the seed, and it’s already cracked. Misted and covered it, made sure the temperature is in the 70s (F), and now I plan to leave it alone except for misting until I see a sprout coming out of that dirt. Afternoon Update - I know I said I’d leave the seed alone lol, but I ended up checking on it again this anyway. I’m happy to report that the taproot has come out though, so hopefully I’ll see the first sign of sprouting tomorrow. For now, I’m just continuing to mist the dirt and keep the bowl on it to preserve humidity levels, however I’ll probably take it off tomorrow so that when the sprout finally pops through she’ll have immediate access to light. I’ll do a second misting tonight, but starting tomorrow I’ll up that number to three times a day since I’ll be taking off the bowl and the exposed dirt will dry out quicker. 10/21 I can see the seed pushing up out of the dirt a tiny bit, but not a whole lot of growth so far. Maybe it’s just a strain thing? Maybe a trait particular to autos? The Berry Bomb Auto seeds were free with purchase – it’s possible they’re being offered because they’re part of a batch of seeds a little on the older side? Regardless of why, I just hope it’s not eating into my preciously limited vegetation period. I only have three or four weeks before the plant starts to flower, and if she’s spending one of those weeks struggling just to sprout properly then it’ll be a bit of a bummer. 10/22 Finally sprouted! Cotyledons are looking a bit small and curled right now, but they’re at least green. I’m just guestimating, but I’d say it’s a ½ in tall or so. 10/23 Cotyledons are already curling and stem is getting longer with a very tiny growth in the secondary leaves. Brought my LED light closer to Berry Bomb Auto to see if that helps curb too much stem length right now. Gave her a light misting, with only a second one tonight since the curling in the coytledons is a sign that it has access to a little too much water right now. 10/27 Just been keeping up the misting twice a day with PH balanced water, keeping temp at about 72-73 degrees F (about 22 degrees C), air circulation is good and temp is about 60%. I rotate her and my other grows twice a day. I did water the outer area of dirt as well as put water directly into the runoff plate to let it absorb through the bottom of the fabric pot to keep the Mykos I put in the dirt hydrated. They’ll be a dope source of little vitamin pockets for the roots as Berry Bomb Auto gets older. The cotyledons have stopped curling an the first set of secondary leaves came in yesterday with just a peak of the next set coming up already. The stem’s growth is continuing but much more slowly so she can get a little more thicc in the stem to support herself. This morning it was dope to find that the secondary leaves doubled in size overnight. This rapid veg is so satisfying to watch lol.

Berry Bomb Auto Week 2 Notes 10/30 I’ve been watering Berry Bomb Auto by misting twice a day. I mix in a small dose of cal/mag and PH the water first – which may be contributing to the nutrient burn I’m seeing on her leaves. Once I realized what was going on I’ve been avoiding the leaves and eve dabbing away any accidental spray, and the newest set on leaves coming in (the first set of five pointers from what I can tell), looks pretty clear of issues. 11/01 Seeing the beginnings of the next set of leaves coming in, with the last set growing in enough to confirm that, Berry Bomb Auto officially has her first set of five point leaves. Dope. Still, part of me is still a little worried about the rate of growth to be honest. I have about 1 ½ - 2 weeks left of veg before she goes into flower, and so far she’s not as big as I might have hoped. I’m sure the nutrient burn doesn’t help, and may even have stressed her enough to reduce how much time I have left before flower. It’s cool that I don’t have to worry about light cycles and that this strain has a naturally shorter period of time until harvest, but still lol that doesn’t leave a lot of room for error and no time to recover from it. With a nine week time from seed to harvest and this being my first auto, I’m starting to appreciate the time flexibility that a photoperiod can offer in veg. As a newbie looking to try autos, I think I may benefit from looking into strains with longer vegetation periods until I gain more experience. 11/02 After looking at last week’s pictures, I’ll admit that maybe I’ve underestimated how much growth Berry Bomb has shown over the course of this week compared to some of my photoperiods. Still though, I’m hoping the quick growth continues with only 1 or 2 weeks left of the vegetation stage, and only a month of flowering left after that. Whatever lol, I’ll stop overthinking the timeline and even if there isn’t much yield I’ll be able to enjoy it just a little bit sooner than I would have with another strain. 11/03 The damage the nutrient burn caused Berry Bomb Auto is pretty obvious, but luckily I’m seeing signs of growth up top as well as up and down the stem, so I’m ending this week feel more hopeful for her size than I thought I would be honestly lol. Very dope, I’m definitely looking forward to seeing how she develops next.

Berry Bomb Auto Week 3 Notes 11/04 Well, fudge. This is it – flower starts this week or next. And to be honest, Berry Bomb Auto is so tiny right now that I’m having some doubts about how much yield I’ll end up getting. I know she’ll keep growing and stretching for a while, but man is this keeping me on the edge of my seat lol. Her leaves are getting bigger and the stem is definitely getting thicker which is definitely dope; if she does end up responding to LST as much as I hope (prob start around the end of the week, I want maybe another inch of height before she’s tall enough to start). I probably mentioned something about it in an earlier entry, but I definitely won’t be topping Berry Bomb Auto. If she had a longer grow period before harvest or maybe if I had more experience I might have tried it, but from what I’ve read of others trying it, the method not only doesn’t seem improve yield, but actually decreases it. 11/05 Alright, so it feels a tiny bit too soon to use garden wire and LST – but then I figured, why not a good old fashioned leaf tuck? I only did it with one leaf, but I was able to find the perfect spot to expose all the little spots on the stem with new growth. Evening Update: Already seeing a boost in growth to the exposed areas on the stem, but obviously that could just as easily be from Berry Bomb Auto just growing up lol. Still though, it doesn’t hurt to keep the leaf tucked the rest of the week until it’s time to properly LST. 11/06 – Midweek Check in I’m seeing a difference in growth between the side that was tucked and the side that wasn’t, so I went ahead and tucked the other leaf as well. Growth up top is coming in, and now the growth on the main stem is coming through too. 11/07 That next node I’ve been waiting for has come in, but it’s still just a tad too short and underdeveloped for me to wire; so for now I’m just keeping up the tucking on the same leaves as before. I’ve been looking for the little white hairs from flowering to pop up, but nothing yet. If I can somehow can another week instead of half week more of veg, I’ll be psyched. 11/09 Growth is really coming in and still no sign of going into flower yet, so not doing too bad so far. The height’s increased by a solid inch or so compared to last week, and the results of the tucking is really showing up with the new growth coming in along the sides. 11/10 – End of Week I’m feeling so freaking excited about going into week four now! I’m unbelievably thrilled to finally experience not only the full circle of my first auto grow, but my first flower and hopefully harvest too. I have a million plants going right now, but they’re all still too small or young for me to want to flip into flower yet so I haven’t actually gotten to get the whole experience of the grow until I finally decided to let an auto do the deciding for me lol.

Berry Bomb Auto Week 4 Notes A lot has been happening with lockdowns going into place and trying to prepare for some of the shortages and difficulties my area’s already starting to face going into winter, so I didn’t have the energy to write up notes for any of my strains this week to be honest lol. Just a quick summary of the week – I gave Berry Bomb Auto two waterings; one with food and one with plain water. I’m kicking myself though, because while I’ve been doing a PH and ppm check on the water before watering, I completely missed checking the water after watering. PH was solid 6.3, but poor girl is at about 550ppm this week, which seems pretty low for being about to go into flower. In a few days when she gets thirsty I’ll adjust the ppm and start adjusting nutrients to bloom food for about 3 weeks, then flush during the 4th week before harvest. The LST has been working out pretty well, though I accidentally snapped off the tip of one of the stronger side colas during the process -_- Overall though, she’s coming in well. I think her shape’s a little funny because fo the way I was tucking the leaves during the first 3 weeks, but with the wires in place for LST she’s filling out pretty evenly. On another note, I’m a little surprised to note that as of the end of week 4 she’s still not showing me the little whispies that help signify the start of flower. This is driving me crazy lol, I know I wanted as much time as possible to get Berry Bomb Auto big and yielding nicely, but I gave up that dream last week and have swung in the opposite direction where I don’t care how much I get, I just want to get on with my first harvest ever already cause I’m freaking excited lol. I’ve been staring at this plant and desperate for a sign that I can finally see the flowering process – but nada. Zilch. Nothing. Bummer. She HAS to start in the next few days, right? Lol. I’m a bit surprised – it kind of seems like Berry Bomb Auto’s life was extended only when the grower was using a hydroponic system (meaning veg went 4 weeks instead of 3), while dirt almost always went with a 3 week veg time. The only thing I might be doing a little different than the average grower is using a 20/4 light schedule and potentially using the Mykos, though I’m sure plenty of others use different brands. Humidity has been kept around 60% - 65% the entire time, and temp was kept pretty constant too at about 72-75 degrees F (about 22 or 23 degrees C). I guess we’ll know next week lol.

Berry Bomb Auto Week 5 Notes 11/19 Did a solid touch up on the garden wires I’m using for LST with Berry Bomb Auto this morning. No need to water yet. I’m still keeping an eye out for flowering, and maybe I’m starting to see the little whispies but it could still be regular veg, I’m not sure. 11/20 - midweek Alright, I’m pretty sure I’m seeing the first hint of whispies. Really excited, but literally just sitting and waiting. Not even able to water yet because dirt is still damp, so I feel like I’m going stir crazy trying to resist the impulse to fiddle around. I’m finding Berry Bomb Auto (at least my pheno) is kind of resistant to LST. Even new growth is less flexible and pliable than I’m used to with my other plants, but not in a dense, heavy kind of way. I’d describe it as being more brittle and much easier to crack or snap, with little give. I’m reluctant to stress older growth, but with a little more massaging and work on newer growth I can get it to move. I really want to avoid snapping the main cola, so I haven’t touched it up to this point but I may see if I can do something later tonight. 11/21 Ended up doing a pretty light bend to the main cola with wiring, more to get a foot in the door and start getting her used to bending that way before I try pushing more. Lol I’m having a really hard time telling the difference between the flower and new growth, it’s driving me nuts. 11/22 It’s finally for sure happening. This week is now my first ever flower week journal entry. Mega dope. I see the little whispies of flower coming in and looking different from new growth, though it’s really only at the top of the main cola…for now. Heh. Speaking of, I pushed the wiring on the main cola a bit more and adjust some of the lower branches to get things nice and filled out. 11/23 Definitely for sure happening I’m pretty sure. Lol to be honest I still had like thirty percent doubt that flower was for some reason not happening. Now I’m down to like fifteen or twenty. Gave her a watering tonight, just a light one with PH’d water. 11/24 – End of week Okay, 100% flowering now!

Berry Bomb Auto Week 6 11/25 Did a tweaking of the LST wiring today and watered with flowering food. So excited to see the flowering stage unfolding, I’m so curious to see what happens over the next 2-3 weeks, depending on when the trichomes start to amber. 11/27 Did some research to see if continued LST in flowering stage is okay, and looks like it is since I started during veg. For some reason it seems like it’s not recommended to do if you’re starting in flowering though – I wonder if it has to do with horomone distribution disruption? Or maybe it’s not recommended due to the branches being thicker and firmer, and therefore less easy to manipulate without breaking? Either way, since I’m doing what’s apparently called “continuous LST” – where I maintain the wiring throughout the veg and flower phases, it’s more than fine and now my intention to do so, except in maybe the last two days or so before chop. Did a little adjustment to wiring and checked dirt – will water in another day or two. 11/28 Going to continue to alternate between bloom food waterings and cal/mag waterings – today I did a cal/mag watering. I probably should measure how much water I give them or keep to more of a regular feeding schedule, but honestly I just check the dirt for dampness to know when to water and I’ll water until about 10-15% of the water leaks out and isn’t quickly reabsorbed from the bottom of the pot. From there I do a quick ppm and ph check, then use an old towel to soak up the excess/wipe down the plate to keep it clean and my ppm checks accurate. 12/01 End of Week Berry Bomb smells really delicious, I'm not gonna lie. It's like a sweet floral scent that I might not immediately think "berry", but if you told me that's what it's supposed to smell like I would say it makes sense lol. I keep sniffing it, and day by day it's getting stronger. I'm so freaking excited!

BBA Week 7 Notes: **Midweek check in** Berry Bomb Auto is giving me some difficulties lol. After giving her a watering with bloom food meant for flowering, she showed signs the very next day of nitrogen toxicity - Patches of leaves were turning much darker in color and becoming shiny which is how they came to that conclusion. The next day I watered/flushed with water that was PH’d and had cal/mag and noticed the plant get healthier pretty quickly afterwards. Next I tried watering with regular veg food again since that seem to have been working until they tried to bloom food, but unfortunately the very next day I saw that the leaves were drooping. Obviously something about this watering also disagreed with Berry Bomb Auto. At first I was worried it was something to do with heat but the temperature’s been pretty steady and all my other plants seem just fine. I increased the air circulation directed at the plant and did some adjustments to LST in addition to a light defoliation of about three or four leaves, as well as decrease the temperature by about 3° to see if that might help as well. The next day I found that there was no huge change, just a minor amount of further drooping. I’m wondering if I somehow managed to over water and it ended up packing in the dirt too much, restricting the uppermost layer of roots and their ability to intake oxygen, suffocating the plant. To try and fix this I used a small stick to poke holes into the dirt in order to loosen it up and try to increase airflow into the dirt. I’ll give it a few hours and see if that’s done anything, but if not then I’ll do another watering with a solid cal/mag dose in the hopes that’ll do the trick. This issue could very well be that Berry Bomb Auto is now suffering a deficiency because of the veg food. The Bloom didn’t agree with her, but Veg food probably isn’t quite enough either. I could try a 50/50 mix of the veg and bloom food, but I hate this feeling of experimentation during the flower food, every wrong step is massively affecting my ultimate quality and yield at this stage and I’m a bit bummed out to be honest lol. Definitely not giving up though - we’re so close to the finish line. **End of week check-in** Berry Bomb Auto is doing noticeably better after watering with a pretty heavy dose of Cal/Mag at about 850 ppm and a PH of about 6.2. The drooping isn’t completely gone and the leaves that were most curled in and looking dried out or affected by the issue haven’t quite gotten back to looking normal, but the newest growth and bud sites are looking great compared to last night. I’ll admit I was pretty worried I’d wake up to an even worse off plant, so it’s really pumping me up that cal/mag at least helped even if it didn’t solve the answer. I don’t think the issue is PH but a matter of me trying to lock in the right combo of nutrients for this plant. It’s tougher than I expected lol.

Ton of pics again this week lol. Frost on the buds is really kicking in beautifully and some more hairs are beginning to amber, however trichomes are still in the clear to milky stage. Noticeably more trichomes are cloudy now, maybe about a third or so when looking at it with greatest magnification. Little tough to show the same thing using phone, but I tried to show the trichomes a bit. Did a combo of sweet finish and cal/mag which Berry Bomb Auto seems to be working with pretty well.

A huge amount of photos this time lol, I know. It was really tough to show with the camera, but most trichomes are milky with about 30% clear remaining. No sign yet of ambering, but once I see a light sprinkle I’ll pop her into darkness for 48 hours before the chop. I underestimated how much time she’ll need before harvest and started the watering with just ph balancing this week, but may add a tiny dose of sweet finish in a few days. In the last week and a half or so she’s gotten especially thirsty and dries up quicker. A little bit of yellowing happening, but that seems to be pretty normal at the end of flowering. I think this plant has managed to get a half-step above being completely popcorny, and I’m pleased with the trichomes production that’s kicked in. She smells great, like a sweet berry perfume or flowers with a hint of sweetness

This last week has just been a waiting game for Berry Bomb Auto, but today I finally found the first tiny sprinkling of amber in some of the trichome heads. Tonight I flushed the dirt to clear any remaining nutrients in the dirt, and then placed her in a closet. I’ll keep her in the dark for 48 hours to create a stress reaction and get her to produce more resin before chop. I kept this week labeled as being in flower because I post at the end of a grow week and she did technically go through the entirety of week 10 in flower. I’ll make next week the harvest week, but take that with a grain of salt if you’re comparing my grow time to yours because in two days she’ll get chopped and hung to dry, rather than in a week. I’m seriously excited to get this finished and start my first trim and cure. She smells incredible, like a sweet, refreshing berry scent and the buds are surprisingly dense, which I tend to find satisfying in my smoke. Honestly if she tastes as good as she smells and looks, I’d really like to grow Berry Bomb Auto again someday or even give the photoperiod Berry Bomb a go. Once I have a bit more experience and learning under my belt, it would be dope to see how much bigger or frostier she could get with the nutrients dialed in a bit sooner and more confidence in how to effectively train and defoliate from the beginning. I’m a bit bummed that my time with growing her is over, but I’m really excited to get some more autos going for my next grow with the new space. I’ve got some more seeds I’m trying to germinate from the same company (Cosmaic Bomb Auto and THC Bomb Auto) but I’ve tried 4 different Cosmic Bomb seeds and they just aren’t popping for me or if they crack open, never get progress beyond that point. I’m trying one more of the Cosmic Bomb Auto before giving up on the strain and trying out the THC Bomb Auto no too as I have the space to start two autos.

Ended up being 64 grams on the scale, dry weight after trim. I ended up taking off the fan leaves before hanging to dry, then after about 8 days of drying (I did the branch cracking method to check for readiness) I did a dry trim over a trim tray with a sift feature. Didn’t measure the pollen collection because I kept smoking it lol, and kept the sugar leaves (putting them in the freezer). Didn’t bother weighing the sugar leaves, there’s may 4 or 5 grams max. Despite using the branch cracking method I ended up drying out the plant too much. The RH wasn’t rising above 55 in the jars, so I kept a reduced jar burp routine going while I ordered some RH packs online to rehydrate them. It’s taking a while, but every other day or so the humidity goes up a percent. For the best apparently, if the humidity goes up crazy fast overnight it would open up the door to mold. The smell was delicious and intensely berry, and that’s remained the case even through the cure. In just a few more days it’ll have been one month since the start of the curing process, and I’m glad to say the taste has developed a tiny bit, but honestly? The taste is so weird lol, it’s like if unsweetened flavored water was a smoke experience. It’s a slightly humid smoke, with the faint essence of sweet berry. Best way to describe it would be if you’ve ever turned a piece of fruit into a makeshift pipe. The smoke takes on humidity and a faint sweetness from the fruit without it being too strong. It’s fun if nothing else lol. The high is pretty light and mellow with a touch of indica calm without the couch lock to me, but tbh I’m a pretty chronic smoker so my tolerance might be a bit higher than some and the effects not as intense or noticeable. No way for me to test THC, but if I had to guess I’d think it’s somewhere between 15% and 18%. Not crazy, but not low either.