Thanks for the great genetics these Strawberry Gorillas are strong, robust plants, that are great for a beginner! They thrived in coco, with light EC requirements, LST to even out the canopy, and leaf defoliation all along. This is only my second session making a few mistakes along the way, all detailed below. They grew into amazing beautiful plants with great smells, and dense flowers covered in trichomes. Smoke report after cure 2-4 weeks
2-2-2024 - Smells improving, good balanced hybrid.
16/2/2024 - Sweet smells of tropical, fruit with gas. Great smoke well balanced hybrid.
Big thanks to @mOuse, @1_Plant_Wonder, @AsNouri, and @Roberts for answering my questions as a new grower, much appreciated!
These seeds were determined to live from the beginning, sprouting tails within 2 days of soaking the seeds. Once sprouted they took off, although I overwatered one seedling (#1) and yes you can overwater in coco (week 3 day 16)! Deficiencies noted in week 3-4 due to my mistake in flushing the coco for seedling strength vs simply leaving buffered and not supplementing with calmag. Gotta pay the coco tax and use calmag water to dilute to appropriate EC, lesson 3. LST was a great tool and I see the benefits and plants really seemed fine with the bending, will add support at the base of the main stem. Will need to defoliate better and remove smaller branches to open up more light, air and energy for other sites. ScrOG was beneficial to tie some branches and tuck them to help open up sites and visually see where stuff should grow. Need to use the space to better plan branches to prune. The ScrOG made it difficult to defoliate and pull plants out of tent for closer inspections.
Both were on ~40% strength of TA’s coco’s recommendation. Lower EC seemed be fine for these two during later veg, pre-flower and flower. Used 20/4 lighting, no bugs or mold noted during the grow. Temperature, humidity and air circulation seemed good this session.
The size of these two would have likely been larger, but due to my mistakes in week 4, I did limit them somewhat. However, #1 was smaller due to overwatering and I used a 3-gallon tall pot for her, knowing I missed a week or so of growth and she was not as big/tall as her sister. #1 had great flower structure, 3-4 main colas and multiple other medium sized colas. Dry 124g #1.
#2 was flower machine, a lot of sites that could have been improved had I defoliated/spread her out better, and I needed to thin out more of the smaller branches. Flowers were beautiful and thick, can only imagine if I had trimmed her better and had a better week of growth; 3-4 main colas, and 6-8 medium sized colas and multiple other smaller sites. What a beast, Dry 153g #2.
Looking back – I could have defoliated small amounts in week 5 and more of the inward growing branches and other small branches Day 34. Week 6 was stretching in preflower. Day 51 week 8 I trimmed – could I have removed more branches at that time? I believe a few branches at a time would have been OK. I did pluck and defoliate leaves during veg, pre-flower and flower and the Strawberry Gorillas handled it well.
10 months ago