Auto Chocolate Skunk

TricomaTeam (tricomateam@gmail.com)

This plant was created from a high-yielding hybrid of Auto Critical Mass, which retains all the characteristics behind the market success of this classic feminised version. 00 Seeds now delights us with a marvellous product. From germination to harvest it only takes 60-65 days. Plants grow rapidly with several branches and shoots. Leaves have a typical Indica shape, large and deep green. In optimal conditions, indoor yield is around 450 g/m2. The concentration of trichomes is very high, with a THC content of 17%. At harvest, buds are huge, dense and sticky. Smell is very pungent, a Skunk-like sweet and fruity aroma reaching all corners of the room. The effect is very powerful and long-lasting, hits hard both physically and mentally and… even the eyes of experienced smokers will appear reddened and half-sleepy.

Germination

10 Auto Chocolate Skunk seeds were placed between cloths, at 22º C, in the dark and with a quite high relative humidity and germinated in less than 48 hours. None of the seeds remained ungerminated. Subsequently, they were planted directly into pots of 17 litre or so. Soon cotyledons grew through the earth surface, partially as a consequence of the heat irradiated by 400W lamps placed at an initial distance of around 80 cm. After a few days, we reduced this distance to less than 50 cm. The photoperiod chosen was 20 hours of light and 4 of darkness.

Vegetative cycle

Growth was astonishing. All grew strong and stout towards the light. We had to constantly check distance with lamps to avoid burns. Every two or three days we raised the lamps. The stem, branches, leaves, everything was big and, after around two weeks, our plants had a width exceeding that of two persons put together. They produced an enormous quantity of shoots on the full length of the stem, followed by plentiful flower production. In the first watering cycles, we added a root stimulator for little more than two weeks.

The formation of a good root system in the early phases of the plants’ lifetime is essential in order to achieve big and healthy specimens that will use the full quantity of nutrients and light supplied to them. As the early leaves appeared, we added Bactomatik in half of the plant quantity, and then repeated the treatment before the blooming phase. On day 10-12, we started watering them with a growth booster in very little concentrations. We gradually increased the dosage for the plants to reach the next phase in the greatest shape. In little less than 3 weeks, we increased lighting by replacing 400W lamps with more powerful 600W lamps. We waited for the beginning of blooming with particular eagerness. The early pistils appeared in almost all specimens between week three and four. We washed up roots and started the flowering programme.

Fruiting

We kept light at 20 h/day. Plants continued to growth extraordinarily for some time still. Some exceeded a height of 1 metre. We did not expect to be rewarded by such big and productive autoflowering plants. It looked as if we had planted them outdoors in enormous holes. They ate anything we gave them… there was nothing left ‘in the plate’. We used a specific fertiliser for this phase until two weeks before harvest, after which we only added plain water.

In a watering cycle, we added Bactobloom to the same specimens to which we had administered Bactomatik. We stopped this treatment a month before cutting them. These two fertilisers will help you derive the maximum benefit from your plants, especially in case of autos. We washed the roots accurately at around day 15 before harvest and waited patiently for trichomes to become completely ripe.

Harvest

We left two specimens grow up to day 80 to complete ripening. The others were all harvested in less than 70 days. Several specimens measured one metre. Yield was very high, with an average per-plant weight of 40 g, although a few plants even exceeded 50 g. Trimming was fairly easy as the leaves of this plant are big enough but present in a smaller proportion. Buds were long, big, hard and shiny and spread an unmistakeable Critical smell all around. 

Effect and taste

You’d better have no tight schedule if you are thinking about rolling a little bit of Auto Chocolate Skunk into a joint. It is a very potent strain. Even if it does not cause excessive sleepiness, it will make you lazy and reluctant to do anything and is not recommendable at times of greater activity. It should preferably be used to forget about problems and have a good time and laugh with your friends. Taste is the quality that most reminds us of the much-loved Critical. Buds have the same smell and taste as the original, intensely sweet and fruity.