[Tony Aroma]

Since three out of four of the strains I'm growing this time are Sweet Seeds, I figured I post my grow log here. I've grown Cream Caramel before, twice now, and really like it. So I wanted to try some other SS strains. These sounded the most interesting (and exotic) to me. So here we are.

First, a brief description of my set up and methods. Unfortunately, I can't get a good picture of the cabinet, so this 3D rendering will have to do. The space is so narrow I only have about an inch clearance when I open the doors, which means I can't get far enough back to get the whole cabinet in a picture.



I'm using a standard double-wide wardrobe, about 48" w x 72" h x 18" d. I left the top shelf in and took out the vertical divider. In the top compartment I have a Panasonic Whisperline fan pulling through a homemade carbon filter. A power strip and the timers are also in the top compartment. I cut a hole in the left side of the shelf for intake from the grow area. In the chamber below I have two darkroom louvres for input on the right side (opposite the exhaust hole in the shelf). For circulation, I have 2 PC fans -- one on the left side blowing upwards, and one blowing on the lights. The entire inside of the grow area is painted flat white.

I have a single 400-w dual (MH/HPS) ballast, a Super Sun 2 reflector, an EYE Metal Ace bulb for veg, and an EYE Hortilux bulb for flower. I have the one PC fan blowing into the right side of the reflector, and some ducting on the left (not shown) taking the air up into the top chamber. The reflector is on chains so I can adjust its height as necessary. That's the ballast sitting on top of the cabinet.

I'm now a devoted grow bag user. I can fit 8 3-gal bags in my cabinet, as opposed to 4 of the same size pots. Although now I typically grow only four plants at a time, so it's not as big a deal, though I do have some flexibility in moving them around. The bags are sitting on a piece of eggcrate for drainage, and underneath the bags the bottom is lined with a piece of heavy drop-cloth plastic.

My medium is organic soil. I start with Fafard's soil in the purple bag, which has no additives. It lists its ingredients as top soil - 75%, compost - 15%, and peat moss - 10%. I like it better than MG organic soil, which is the only other organic soil I can get around here. It is a very rich, dark soil. To it I add perlite (about 5 to 1, soil to perlite), a little vermiculite, bone meal (flower), blood meal, ground egg shell, epsom salts, dolomitic lime, and kelp meal. Also, in the bottom half of the bags, I added mushroom compost about 50/50 with the soil mix. The seedling mix, in 18 oz plastic cups, is just straight Fafard's with some perlite added to it.

For ferts I use General Organics liquid. For veg I use their grow formula, for flower I use their bloom formula. I also add molasses to my regular water every once in a while.

[Tony Aroma]

I started one seed of each strain in paper towels. All germinated within 48 hours and went into the soil. Within another 48 hours, all had sprouted (day 1).

Here we are at day 18, and I just transplanted the gang from their party cups to 3-gallon bags, their permanent homes. That's why they look a bit droopy, in case you were wondering.



From left to right: Vanilla Kush (Barney's Farm), Mohan Ram, Wild Rose, and Psicodelicia.

All are about the same size, except the MR, which is noticeably smaller. It was however just as rootbound as the others when I transplanted. Nothing much else to say at this point, except that they all have VERY wide leaves. Interesting, since two are supposed to be mostly sativa and two mostly indica. We'll see how things develop, so please stay tuned.

BTW, how do you pronounce "Psicodelicia"? That "ia" on the end makes me wonder if it rhymes with "militia"?

[Tommy G]

Hi Tony!

Thanks for sharing this with us my friend

Yep, you're in the right place to post this Even the strain that is not from Sweet Seeds is very probably a nice strain, I've tried it last summer in Amsterdam in the coffeshops of the seedbank that owns and sells the strain and I loved the quality smoke. I don't know how the plant behaves, but I really appreciated the taste and effect.

About the others (Mohan Ram, Psicodelicia and Wild Rose) I have not much more to say besides what you can find in the Sweet Seeds Test Grows subforum. All great strains, easy to grow and productive. As an Indica lover Mohan Ram is one of my favourites

Will be interesting to watch, see you around, sweet smokes!

tommy

[Tommy G]

BTW, how do you pronounce "Psicodelicia"? That "ia" on the end makes me wonder if it rhymes with "militia"?

Yep, I think you can pronounce it with the same ending as "militia", I actually think it sounds exactly the same

Keep it sweet

tommy

[Tony Aroma]

It occurred to me that temperature might have something to do with the MR being smaller. During their second week, we had some cold temps. When the light was off, it was down around 60 F deg., maybe a little below. Maybe the MR is more sensitive to lower temps? Hopefully the cold snap is over, so it won't be an issue.

[Tommy G]

Hi again Tony!

Yeah... it could be, or not... you know that in the first stage many things can delay them a bit but after a while they usually catch up. And, anyway, Mohan Ram will always be the smaller plant from the Sweet Seeds trio you've got there, they usually don't stretch much and stay short and bushy but with very compact flowers with much more resin than the other 2 Sweet Seeds strains you've got there. You'll see

Sweet smokes!

tommy

[jaypp]

Hi Tony aroma,
Thanks for starting this thread and for sharing with us.
You've chosen a very nice strains and hope you enjoy them.
I'll keep passing by.
cheers!
Jaypp

[Tony Aroma]

The girls are now 25 days old and enjoying their spacious new (and final) homes. (Forgot to mention, all are from feminized seeds.) No more drooping. They're all standing straight and proud, reaching for the light, which is now as low as it's going to get. (I start the light out high, the gradually lower it over the first two weeks.) All are very healthy, very sturdy-looking plants. They look a lot less lost in those 3-gal bags than they did a week ago. Except, maybe the Mohan Ram.



They're in the same positions as before, from left to right: Vanilla Kush (Barney's Farm), Mohan Ram, Wild Rose, and Psicodelicia.

They all still have pretty wide leaves, especially the Psicodelicia. It has about the widest leaves I've seen. Hard to tell now, but on its first set, the center leaf almost completely covered the side leaves! Its second and third sets are just slightly less wide.

The Mohan Ram is still the runt of the litter. It has as many nodes as the other plants, but it's significantly smaller. I hope it doesn't end up producing significantly less.

That's about it for now. More next week, "same Bat time, same Bat channel."

[Tony Aroma]

Here we are in the 5th week already. I plan to let them veg for about 9 weeks. Up till my last grow, I usually vegged them for 6-7 weeks, and I never quite made an oz per plant with 6 plants. Last grow they vegged for 9 weeks, and I got over 6 oz from just 4 plants. That extra couple of weeks makes a BIG difference! So my new strategy is to grow fewer plants and let them veg longer. I'll put the SCROG screen in when they get a little taller. With 9 weeks veg time and the stretch in flower, they should fill in the cabinet with a nice, solid canopy.



Here they are, from left to right: Vanilla Kush (Barney's Farm), Mohan Ram, Wild Rose, and Psicodelicia. Mohan Ram is still bringing up the rear size wise, but it still has the same number of nodes as the others. I'm expecting them all to take off over the next week or so.

So far, they've had only plain water. I'll probably start feeding around week 4, since the soil was pretty well amended to begin with. I did give them their first shot of molasses in their last watering. I usually use molasses in their first watering after transplant to give the critters in the soil a jump start, but I forgot this time.

[jaypp]

Looking good there!
Mohan Ram is the most indica strain that you have, and she will be the smaller, but she have very hard and compact buds

Great job Tony!
Jaypp