Hi there gang, thought I’d start a diary of my new grow. This is my second grow and I’m sure I’ll be coming here for advice soon so maybe before I fill the forum up with questions I’d thought I’d start a diary. So I’ve got a pot of coffee, a bubbler full of chem valley kush and some funk on the stereo and I’ve finally sat down to start:
My girlfriend and I picked a strain each to grow for the 2nd grow, both fruity, one sativa dominant and one indica dominant. I picked Dutch Passions lemon zkittles, as a 60/40 sativa it sounds great without making me too jittery like some pure sativas do. My girlfiend picked Reserva Privada’s Strawberry Banana as it’s 70/30 indica dom and sounded tasty (managed to get some from a local grower friend and I can report it is awesome). We’re both growing for ourselves and flavour so we’ve tried to keep things as organic as possible in regards to nutes and ferts we use.
Strain Info:
Lemon Zkittles is a feminized photoperiod hybrid with extreme THC levels of over 20% from the USA. The genetics come from Las Vegas Lemon Skunk which was crossed with a prized Zkittlez parent. The most potent offspring which was remarkably stress resistant, was the yellow lemon zkittle phenotype. She produces heavy yields, a fresh lemon aroma and bright green and yellow buds in bloom.
The Zkittlez parent variety is one of the best USA varieties, selling for up to $35/g with some of the highest THC levels we have seen. Lemon Zkittle is easy to grow with exceptional resin production, a sour citrus aroma and fantastically strong buds. She is around 60% sativa, medium height and takes 9-10 weeks in bloom with XL yields. Bred for potency with a fresh lemon taste, one of our most potent creations ever.
Brand - Dutch Passion
Genetics - 60%Sativa/40%Indica
Parents - Zkittlez x Las Vegas Lemon Skunk
Flowering Time - 9-10 weeks
THC - 20%
Yield (Indoor) High
Height (Indoor) Medium
Feminized seeds
The Strawberry Banana is one of the first Reserva Privada seed company collabs with Serious Seeds! Strawberry Banana is a cross of Crockett's Banana Kush and Serious Seeds Strawberry pheno of Bubble Gum. The Strawberry Pheno of Serious Seeds Bubblegum was such a frosty male that their homie the Guru new he had to cross it with something. So him and Crockett got to work and created the Strawberry Banana. She has to be one of the greatest resin producers ever seen, expect to see good yields with the flowering time of 9 weeks. The concentrate that she produces is top notch winning awards at multiple cups around the world. She responds well to topping and does great in all systems. A medium to heavy feeder the Strawberry Banana can produce big yields! Expect connoisseur quality herb without having to be an expert grower! The beginner will shine as well as the seasoned grower.
Brand - Reserva Privada
Genetics - 30%Sativa/70%Indica
Parents -Banana Kush x Bubble Gum
Flowering Time - 9 weeks
THC - 22-26%
Yield (Indoor) High
Height (Indoor) Medium
Feminized seeds
Set up:
1.2m x 1.2 x 1.8 Roof Qube by Green qube
Intake: 4 inch fan
Exhaust: 6 inch rvk plus carbon filter.
Veg Lights: 600W viparspectra
Flowering: eventually going up to 2 x 600W lumii sunmaster hps via dimmable lumii ballasts with cool tubes.
1 x oscillationg floor fan and 1 6” clip fan to circulate air.
This will be the first time using 2 x hps and will keep them around 400w with the the 400w bulbs, heat permitting. Previously I used a mix of 1 x hps dimmed to 400w (400W bulb) and the LED which I found caused an uneven harvest. With the buds under the hps ripening first and fatter.
I’ve encountered some heat problems(nothing major, coming home to 32C but just one light on for an hour sorted that) with the UK Summer towards the end of harvest with my current grow. The only thing that concerns me with this grow’s setup is how cool (how hot?) will the lights be with the cool tubes.
Humidity and temps (besides one or two hot summer days) haven’t been too bad. I don’t think I’ll have a problem controlling these too terribly as I have a vent in the roof for exhaust and the intake if need be.
Germination:
Propagation tray with clear cover
T5 propogation lights.
*Soil: a mix of around 60% verve seedling soil and 40% perlite.
** All water used is tap water which has been left out for 24 plus hours in the 2 big fuck off watering cans that permanently live on my kitchen table.
Day 1
Strawberry banana successfully popped both their tails out after 24 hours in the paper towel method. Lemon zkittles died and I had to pop two more who both successfully germinated on day 8.
If you want to know how I successfully germinated the seeds follow this method https://youtu.be/nHfrvizhk8s
I didn’t the first time and hence the death of the original lemon Zkittles seeds (I oversoaked). Big props to the Boss man, Keeno and everyone here who jumped up to help me when I asked for advice.
Day 8
So the seeds went into root riots, taproot down, which were soaked in water then squeezed once to get the excess off. Then the root riot cubes were placed onto the soil which has had a dusting of Great White Myco. and then the space around the side was filled and the top of seed had a light soil dusting.
This is my first time using root riots and found them very spongy and easy to use but I think next time I’ll go straight into the soil. The lemon zkittles rooted fast and after 48 hours the taproots were very curled and a pain in the ass to get into that root riot hole.
The pots then went in the propagation tray with cover and under the T5 tubes on 18/6 light schedule.
So both seedlings are above the surface, the lemon zkittles had to have a little help getting their seed casing off the tops and a strawberry banana also had a seed casing stuck to it’s stem which needed pulling but both came off pretty gently. It was very satisfying pulling the membrane from the lemon zkittles and watching it ‘pop’.
Day 13
Everything is looking good, Strawberry banana is obviously a week ahead of Lemon Zkittles and is almost touching the top of the propagation cove. Keeping it nice and humid in there by keeping the stones on the bottom of the tray damp. Just giving them a spray of water every morning.
Day 14
Balls. Came home to see a little spurt pushed one SB to the top of the cover and a leaf singed on the top.
Obviously I had to McGuyver the fuck out of the situation and using some upside down pots and some planks of wood I raised the cover.
Day 15
Again being A McGuyver I made a Shelf to place the Led on above the plants. I put the Led onto ‘veg’ and the plants seem to love it. It’s around 20 inches from the plants. I’ll be able to stick them in the tent around day 25 unable to at the moment due to it being full of my first harvest drying.
Day 21
*Soil: 8 litres made up of equal(ish) parts of biobizz allmix, organic worm castings, organic soil conditioner and perlite.
Transplanted up to 2 litre smart pots with a few clay pebbles in the bottom of them. Again I put a dusting of Great white myco on the soil before placing the root ball on top.
SB
LZ
The tent should be free ready for the plants in a few days, the spoetnik I’ve got drying is looking great. Tester nug smoked strong
Day 29
So they’ve had a few waterings (3 in a week), a litre between them a time with 4 ml of Canna Bio Rhizotonic, and today they went into a nice clean tent with my 2 x hps lights in cool tubes. Had a dry run yesterday and run the lights for a few hours (I fell asleep on the sofa) in the tent with the fan on to see how the set up worked: temps stuck around 30C with both lights on 400W. I’m happy with that especially as it was a warm night. Also I’d like to introduce you to the Marijuananaut and Little Prick the hedgehog.
Sunday I think I might top the SB.
All 4 plants topped, pretty sure I fimmed 1 x the lemon zkittles (less of a ‘fuck I Missed’ moment and more of a ‘Oh for fuck’s sake’ but OFFS isn’t as catchy). Good news is that a few days later it bounced back super fast and I have 4 healthy looking tops on the girl. I also gave the plants their first feeding of 1200ml of water with 1ml of Canna Bio Vega and 1ml of Canna bio Rhizotonic. This was between them and the SBs had a little more as they’re a week older than the LZ. Being pretty gentle with the nutes at the mo as I don’t know how hot the soil is.
Day 38
Made up the soil ready for potting up as the SB is growing fast and thick. It’s similar to what I used previously (1/3 biobizz all mix, 1/3 organic worm castings and 1/3 organic soil conditioner and a few extra handfuls of perlite when I chuck it in the pot) but I watered it and let it rest for 48 hours before I used it. I’ve still been feeding a low nute mix (just under 1ml per litre) but I skipped a day and just gave water to the LZ as it made no sense to feed them the same as a plant almost twice the size. Also to let you know lowest temps are around 24C during lights off and have reached 33C during lights on with this gorgeous weather. I’ve ordered a Co2 bag to see if that helps at all, especially with the higher than normal temps.
Day 40
Potting day
All 4 plants potted up to 8 litres fabric pots and given a good dusting of Great white Myco. Looking good and happy so far.
Day 42
Strawberry Banana #1
Strawberry Banana #2
Lemon Zkittles #1
Lemon Zkittles #2
LST’d the Strawberry banana and bent them both over.
The girls at the back lift up your skirts
Thanks guys! I had to tighten my LST this morning as they had bent back up.
I forgot to mention I gave them 2ml of biobizz Bioheaven last night too. It's pricey stuff but someone advised that after transplanting it'll help them bounce back and so far so good.
I'm going to be a lot more ruthless with some of the pruning this time too as I have 2 big jars of popcorn buds from last time and as much as I like edibles I'd rather BUDS.
Day 61
What’s growing on?
All plants have been fed 1ml of feed (canna bio vega) per litre of water and once a week they get a qtr capful of seaweed extract between them. After potting up and supercropping they all got some biobizz bioheaven to get them back on track. I’ve also been feeding them mammoth P microbes as to their feeding schedule as it’s my first time using it. Designed for soil (first and then hydro) I’m hoping it’ll give me a boost. Temps have been on the higher side (35C) some days due to the tent being in my attic. Once a week I foliar spray them with a squirt of old timers cal mag (1ml per litre of H2o) I’m not sure if the need this but The spraying helps the humidity anyway with it being so hot as of late,
So, as I said, I’ve tried supercropping (after seeing Clunge Muncher’s result with the Lemon Zkittles I had to) and they’ve bounced back very quickly (24-48 hours) and I’ve been keeping the canopy level through out with bending and some wire. I did notice the lemon zkittles has bounced back quicker than the Strawberry Banana, despite being a week younger.
Knuckles bro
Sonic and Knuckles bro.
So I’m going to Belfast next week for a mate’s wedding for three nights so I was going to coincide the flip with the trip (fan will be on low as my dad has to feed the cats) and flip them on my return with a 24 hour dark period (is this worth it?).
STRAWBERRY ‘NANA #1
STRAWBERRY ‘NANA #2 and my knee.
LEMON ZKITTLES #1
LEMON ZKITTLES #2
All these were pre a beating.
POST BEATING, sorry girls.
Bought some blinds and some shelves
DAY 70
Well I’ve been keeping my routine pretty much the same: feed for a week and then give them a good watering, supercropping branches when they look like they needed it and tying them down to keep them level. They all bounced back super well, lemon zkittles especially. There’s notes of rotten banana and strawberry milkshake coming from the strawberry banana and a sage like rich smell from the lemon zkittles which reminds me of pork!
So I think it’s about time I flipped. I’ve given them their flowering pruning and potted up to 17 litre smart pots with the same soil mix as I used previously. And give them a good watering a feed of rhizo, I also used great white whilst potting up again, Great stuff. I tied them all down and changed the timers to 12/12.
I’m off to Ireland to a mates wedding until Sunday so lets see how they’ve stretched when I get back. Nutes in the soil should keep ‘em going for a while anyway.
Lemon zkittles getting potted up
The girls pre flip after their pre flower prune and tied down just like you like it.
When I get back I’ll be switching to 2 x 250 hps heat permitting,
Day 74 - Day 4 flower
Day 11 since the flip
Just popping in for a quick pic. Been busy lately and just seem to be working, eating, looking after plants and sleeping. Back to normality this week I think.
Anyway, still feeding them 2ml per litre of canna bio vega. Once a week they get some seaweed extract and I also give them so bio heaven once a week/10 days if I bash them up particularly. Used some stakes to make an evening canopy. Some little buds forming on the strawberry banana now.
2 x Lemon zkittles in the front and the 2 x Sb at the back.
They're under the hps now it's a little cooler too. No issues whatsoever so far!
More spam: sorry I just didn't realise how much they were starting to flower:
Day 11 since flip (still):
Strawberry banana
Lemon zkittles at the front and Sb at the rear.
Mon the lemon.
"First you get the lemons, then you get the power and then you get the women"
Here's a pic of the them all. The difference in the the 2 lemon zkittles is obvious.
Lemon #1
Lemon #2
Strawberry banana #1
Strawberry banana #2
Just some pics this morning. Going to do some more defoliation tonight. Been staggering it but am going to bite the bullet and do it all tonight (lights on 9pm-9am seemed like such a good idea until I realised that meant dragging my stoned arse off the sofa every night when all I wanna do is watch old borat shows and snooze)
Day 19 since flip! Stretch has stopped (I hope so!)
Please stop growing:
LeMON THE ZKITTLES:
Strawberry banana
:
zkittles again:
I've got a day off tomorrow so I'm making more medicated chocolate with my trim and I'll post some pics after defol.
Week 3 (almost) since flip
So it'll be 3 weeks since 12/12 on Thursday but the buds are packing on so I did the defol (did a bit of a staggered defol) last night and this morning. Took me longer than I thought plus I was pretty high as we finished off the edibles I had made last night. Wasn't too brave, took off most fan leaves though. Also had a feed last night of bio flores, little bio boost, seaweed extract and some bio heaven. half measures on everything. I've also been using mammoth microbes through out this run (started just before flip). Managed to get some real life pics for you. Smells: coffee and pineapple from the lemon zkittles with the broad leaves and sage and coffee with the thinner leaves, skunk is coming through now too. The strawberry bananas seem pretty identical and just smell like the dank if I'm to be honest.
couple of humid nights lately meant the lights been down to lower settings but still plenty i reckon.
Lemon zkittles broad leaves
up the arse
deep penetration
barely legal
still full
lights out
strawberry banana with her ties off, tied her back down after to make sure all bits still get light
full frontal
week 3 day 3 since 12/12
Feeding them 2 1/4 litres every 48 hours. Going to up it as they seem to drying up a little quicker, temps are a steady 27/28 lights on (controlling the heat using my fan control). Canna bio flores, bio boost and Mammoth p plus I'm chucking in some seaweed extract every couple of days.
Any advice/ tips welcome.
Lemon zkittles
Strawberry banana
upskirt shot for the lads
Week 4 since 12/12
Starting to stink now.
Feeding them 2ml canna bio flores and 2ml bio boost. Seaweed extract and Mammoth p every couple of days.
Strawberry banana
Strawberry banana
And the lemon zkittles
Bit of an arty one I took before bed.
6 weeks and 4 days since flip to 12/12
I increased the feed slightly for week 3-5 (2ml/1l boost and 3ml/1l flores) and i've been continuing mammoth p (bi weekly) and seaweed extract (weekly). They've had a water only feed a few times over the weeks too as a little treat now and then.
So the LZ with more indica traits has not put on much weight compared with the other pheno which continues to pile on the fat. Both SB plants are uber frosty.
Some pics with HPS glasses over the lense some without.
lights out
Lemon Zkittles (the one that is getting chunky)
lemon zkittles
strawberry banana
strawberry banana being abducted by UFO
strawberry banana
A little update:
Been mad crazy with work, 3/7 managers quit (I'm a manager) and have been working 60+ hours a week (and all weekends) so while I've been reading and posting bits I'm sorry if I've seemed like a lurker as of late. Friday I have a day off so will sit down and read all the diary updates that I've missed.
Anyway, as I was feeding these last night my hand brushed over a juicy Sb Cola and my hand stunk of Bubblegum which got me all excited. Both Sb smell of Bubblegum and the indica pheno Lz smells like pineapple and tropical juice drink and the other taller pheno (the one below) no longer smells of sage but like coffee mixed with fruits and well, cannabis really. Lovely dank smell.
Week 8 of flower tomorrow, spun all plants around and checked for mould, bananas and all other things last night but we're all good in the hood. Flowering guide says 9 weeks but I was going to go 10 at least. Not even going to check the trichs until week 9.
Zkittles
Strawberry banana
Welcome to weedville, please enjoy the dank.
Ps. After my heat issues almost fried my new grow (2 x sour d and 2 x ammo) they've been potted up with my new soil mix and have Started to grow again! Phew. Diary coming soon.
Pps. Dreamt last night all the trichs on the plants had turned black and fell off. Woke up with my heart pounding.
'This is the end, my only friend, the end' - Jim Morrison.
Well almost. It's been 10 weeks and a day since I flipped to flower. The zkittles smells skunky as hell now and the strawberry B is still Bubblegum all the way but unless you touch it and sniff your fingers (
) the zkittles overpowers it.Disaster struck a few days ago where I found bud rot on one of the zkittles.
I cried for a few hours but then pulled myself together and said laters to that bud. Chopped it off and touch wood all the others look fine. But that settles it, it's chop day Sunday. So i'll be drying in cardboard wardrobes with a little fan for the first 24 hours. I'll try and keep humidity around 50-60 which shouldn't be too hard in this country of constant rain (Wales). That's all to come though.
Edit: been on plain water for 10 days.
Learnt a lot from this grow which I will post at the end.
For your perusal:
So close I can almost taste it.
I started chopping Sunday and hanging them in cardboard wardrobe boxes. There's two boxes with two layers, the bottom layer is of smaller branches and buds held by an Octokush and the top layer is a series of wires that branches are hung or pegged to. I stuck white tape to all the lemon zkittles indica pheno so we can tell the difference for smoking. One box contained the LZ and the other the SB (didn't separate these as they looked and smelt pretty identical).
There's a small fan blowing through the bottom of both boxes, where I've cut doorways through out so air can pass through. I covered the small gap at the top with a sheet so it can still breathe. The humidty in the box was a whopping 80% the first day! The second day a dehumidifer turned up and dropped it down the 65 over night. It's still lowering now. Aiming for 50-60% humidity and around 20-22C in the room which is pretty easy at the moment.
Aiming for a 10-14 day dry followed by a lot of hand trimming using kief collecting trays. The Missus loves it, she sticks a podcast on and will sit and trim happily for hours like an old woman knitting.
OCTOKUSH
Lessons learnt this grow:
Add supports early. Trying to tie a droopy budded branch is hard work when it's covered in sticky flowers.
proper drainagethe oven grills the soil pots sat on did not support the plant after watering so they still sat in their juices. Using planks of wood now.
humidity control I need to get myself a dehumidifier for flowering time and a wet vac (getting both from screwfix) to suck up all that run off.
summer temps growing in a loft during the summer sucks but it is doable.
In trimming hell at the moment. Did 5 ozs of lemon zkittles (sativa pheno) and 1.3 Oz of strawberry banana last night.
Humidity is spot on throughout drying though. 9/10 day dry.
It's all in jars. It's being burped daily. The smell, like santa, is coming to town. (I may have used wedding stationary to tag the jars)
148 posts, 4 months and 18 days. My second grow is under the belt. Learnt a lot (as always) from you guys and general 'sleeves up, having a go'.
Final weigh ins:
Strawberry banana (2 plants): 290 grams
Lemon zkittles indica pheno: 143 g
Lemon zkittles sativa pheno: 174 g
Total of 4 plants grown under various hps wattage (250-400), organically and in soil: 607 grams (21.43 Oz)
Would have been happy with 2/3s that and 1/2 would last us until Xmas at least.
It's been fun! Grow #3 is all ready started (for science! Diary) but this one is in the bag.
Shift it the completed section, pin the 'completed grow diary' medal onto my chest and await the cured smoke reports.
Stay high everyone and thanks for your help and encouragement along the way.
All the comments about the grow looking good were very much appreciated and being a new grower they really did help settle any doubts. Thanks again growroom ♥
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