Hey gang. I saw some other folks here talking about the Grand daddy purple - Purple Dream, so I thought I would do a mini journal of my purple dream. I won't bore you with 100 pictures of seedlings and veg pictures; we will pick it up just before flower.
From what I understand, Grandaddypurple created a cross between their Blue Dream female and their classic Purple male. For whatever reason, they released a couple hundred seeds, and then decided not to continue creating this X. (GDP, feel free to clarify here) I had placed an order from "Attitude" last year, and I got two freebee "Purple Dream" seeds.
On April 20th I started the two Purple Dreams in a wet paper towel, in a baggie, and set it on my internet router to keep them warm. In 48 hours I had tails and set them down into 2" rockwool blocks. Then into a small pot of grodan rockwool grow cubes.
30 days later I started to see the beginnings of pre flowers. In case you didn't know, here is a good way to "predict" the sex of your plant. Look for the start of the calyx like you see circled in the picture. Both males and females will have something growing here (females usually start first). If it is very pointed as you see the picture, it is probably a female. Males are more blunt.
And at 40 days, I spotted the first emerging pistil:
Currently, they are in vegetative growth under a 600W Apollo, $20, metal halide light. They are in 100% rockwool grow cubes, and I'm hand watering to waste, once a day. I grow in cheap regular nursery pots when they are little, then as they get bigger, I go to superoots air pots.
Here is my nutrient recipe for vegetative growth (mostly general hydroponics nutrients). In a 5 gallon bucket of RO water, I add:
15ml Florablend
15ml Calmag or calimagic
10ml FloraMicro
15ml Floragrow
5ml FloraBloom
Then I add about 5ml armor si (silica) to bring the PH up to 5.8-6.2. I aim for 300-500ppm during veg, depending on the size.
I also use a beneficial bacteria tea once a week.
When we go to flower, I'll show you my flowering Rig. It's so easy, even a stoner can do it. Each specimen gets it's own reservoir.
I'm hopeful the Purple dream will be worth growing. Typically purple-ish strains are not known to be the best yielders, but with the blue dream I hope I see some dense big colas. I haven't seen anyone growing the purple dream like I do (one pounders) so I'm excited to see these flower out. I've heard from "PH-Patrol" that his took about 74 days to finish. I'm hoping mine take less time, since they are so mature at this point. They are full of pistils already and longing for 12/12.
See you soon. Constructive comments and questions welcome..
From what I understand, Grandaddypurple created a cross between their Blue Dream female and their classic Purple male. For whatever reason, they released a couple hundred seeds, and then decided not to continue creating this X. (GDP, feel free to clarify here) I had placed an order from "Attitude" last year, and I got two freebee "Purple Dream" seeds.
On April 20th I started the two Purple Dreams in a wet paper towel, in a baggie, and set it on my internet router to keep them warm. In 48 hours I had tails and set them down into 2" rockwool blocks. Then into a small pot of grodan rockwool grow cubes.
30 days later I started to see the beginnings of pre flowers. In case you didn't know, here is a good way to "predict" the sex of your plant. Look for the start of the calyx like you see circled in the picture. Both males and females will have something growing here (females usually start first). If it is very pointed as you see the picture, it is probably a female. Males are more blunt.
And at 40 days, I spotted the first emerging pistil:
Another week later I saw a pistil on the other plant. I am so lucky that both plants are female. Starting from one seed is such a "crap shoot". With two, I have a better chance of getting a nice phenotype.
I see many people doing some crazy stuff to try to sex their plant. They try to keep one branch in the dark, or they take clones, root them, and put them into 12/12, or they go to 12/12 and then reveg. There is an easier way. Just be patient and wait. I've grown over a dozen strains and they all have shown me sex under 18/6. The longest I've had to wait is 55 days from seed. (average 45-50 days) Males take a little longer, but if you've gone 60 days and don't see a pistil, you've probably got a boy.
We are approaching 2 months, which is the normal time I run in vegetative growth. I don't grow anything under a lb per plant. I keep my plant count to just a few plants in flower at a time. Tomorrow, a chonger gets chopped, leaving room for the first Dream, and I'll have to wait two weeks on the other.
The one on the left isn't as green as I'd like to see it, despite it getting the same exact recipe as the one on the right. But both plants look amazing with no nutrient dehydration. Compared to other strains I've grown, the GDP Purple Dream grows at an average speed, and responds well to topping.
As you can see here I don't torture my plants by raping them of their leaves, or bending branches. All I do is top. Often. When they go into flower, I'll use a scrog net to spread them out as they stretch. I top a week before flower, and then don't top again after 12/12 (unless the stretching is so bad I run out of height). Topping during flower can disturb auxins and extends flowering time. My flower floor space is precious so I try to finish as quickly as possible.
The blades of the leaves are a typical indica X sativa shape, with several 8-9 bladed fans about. In this picture you can see a few places where I topped 5 days ago. I like to keep them as short and bushy as possible in veg, then in flower I will let them stretch out.
I see many people doing some crazy stuff to try to sex their plant. They try to keep one branch in the dark, or they take clones, root them, and put them into 12/12, or they go to 12/12 and then reveg. There is an easier way. Just be patient and wait. I've grown over a dozen strains and they all have shown me sex under 18/6. The longest I've had to wait is 55 days from seed. (average 45-50 days) Males take a little longer, but if you've gone 60 days and don't see a pistil, you've probably got a boy.
We are approaching 2 months, which is the normal time I run in vegetative growth. I don't grow anything under a lb per plant. I keep my plant count to just a few plants in flower at a time. Tomorrow, a chonger gets chopped, leaving room for the first Dream, and I'll have to wait two weeks on the other.
The one on the left isn't as green as I'd like to see it, despite it getting the same exact recipe as the one on the right. But both plants look amazing with no nutrient dehydration. Compared to other strains I've grown, the GDP Purple Dream grows at an average speed, and responds well to topping.
As you can see here I don't torture my plants by raping them of their leaves, or bending branches. All I do is top. Often. When they go into flower, I'll use a scrog net to spread them out as they stretch. I top a week before flower, and then don't top again after 12/12 (unless the stretching is so bad I run out of height). Topping during flower can disturb auxins and extends flowering time. My flower floor space is precious so I try to finish as quickly as possible.
The blades of the leaves are a typical indica X sativa shape, with several 8-9 bladed fans about. In this picture you can see a few places where I topped 5 days ago. I like to keep them as short and bushy as possible in veg, then in flower I will let them stretch out.
Currently, they are in vegetative growth under a 600W Apollo, $20, metal halide light. They are in 100% rockwool grow cubes, and I'm hand watering to waste, once a day. I grow in cheap regular nursery pots when they are little, then as they get bigger, I go to superoots air pots.
Here is my nutrient recipe for vegetative growth (mostly general hydroponics nutrients). In a 5 gallon bucket of RO water, I add:
15ml Florablend
15ml Calmag or calimagic
10ml FloraMicro
15ml Floragrow
5ml FloraBloom
Then I add about 5ml armor si (silica) to bring the PH up to 5.8-6.2. I aim for 300-500ppm during veg, depending on the size.
I also use a beneficial bacteria tea once a week.
When we go to flower, I'll show you my flowering Rig. It's so easy, even a stoner can do it. Each specimen gets it's own reservoir.
I'm hopeful the Purple dream will be worth growing. Typically purple-ish strains are not known to be the best yielders, but with the blue dream I hope I see some dense big colas. I haven't seen anyone growing the purple dream like I do (one pounders) so I'm excited to see these flower out. I've heard from "PH-Patrol" that his took about 74 days to finish. I'm hoping mine take less time, since they are so mature at this point. They are full of pistils already and longing for 12/12.
See you soon. Constructive comments and questions welcome..
