Grow Diary Mataró Blue: Part Two

One of the best things about growing at home is the incredible variety of strains that are available, with each strain comes a different set of characteristics that you have to learn and manipulate to get the best out of. No matter how long you've been cultivating for; a couple of months or a couple of decades, you're always guaranteed a few surprises!

One of the best things about growing at home is the incredible variety of strains that are available, with each strain comes a different set of characteristics that you have to learn and manipulate to get the best out of. No matter how long you've been cultivating for; a couple of months or a couple of decades, you're always guaranteed a few surprises!

After a trip to Barcelona at the start of the year, I had procured a nice selection of seeds from the various indigenous seed banks and was itching to get a crop in before the warm summer months. The Mataró Blue from Kannabia Seeds caught my eye with the promise from the Kannabia website of resin production ‘like large drops of caramel' and a high THC content. Mmmmm! Sea of green was the preferred growing method and all was going to plan. You join us at the first week of the flower period.

The Story So Far...

For those of you that missed the last issue (shame on you!) here's a quick recap of the grow room set up;
- HOMEbox 1m tent
- 600w lamp
- 8inch extraction fan and carbon filter, passive intake
- 6inch oscillating fan, to move the air in the room around
- Gold Label Special Mix Light Soil
- Gold Label Root Stimulator, Soil A+B base nutrients, Ultra MG and Ultra PK

Two and a half weeks into the veg phase; all had gone well. I popped 10 Mataró Blue seeds and put them straight into compost, propagated under the 600 watt lamp (kept at a safe distance of about 30 inches from the seedlings).

During the veg phase the Mat Blue's underwent some serious lateral growth developing a thick canopy across the bottom of the tent, I had planned a Sea Of Green style grow to try and get a quick harvest in before the warmer summer months kicked off. The plants had been reacting very well to the nutrients, which was reassuring as I had not used such a concentrated range of liquids before; the starting dose on the base nutes is 0.5ml per litre and the additives just 0.25ml per litre. Powerful stuff!

By the end of the third week, I had already upped the dose to 2ml per litre for the nutrient and 0.5ml per litre for the Root Stim and Ultra MG. As I understand it, the Ultra MG additive is the growth stimulator in the range, containing magnesium nitrate; so as well as adding magnesium - for chlorophyll production - it also adds an extra dose of nitrogen, keeping things nice and green.

The Stretch

At the time of switching the lights, the plants were incredibly compact and stocky with really tight internodes and loads of lateral growth. The canopy had formed a proper carpet on the grow tent floor and it looked solid enough to walk on!! I put the short internode length down to using a 600w lamp in a metre square space; I know most people tend to use a 1.2m tent with a 600w. One thing that is for sure is that these plants love light; the Kannabia website actually recommends 800w per metre square for optimum results with the Mat Blues! I think that could be an interesting experiment for a future grow, although I would certainly need the 8inch extraction on full whack to deal with the heat coming from a couple of 400 watters side by side in that space!
Three days into 12/12 and there were some serious changes going on, the canopy was rising three or four inches by the day. The stretch had started and didn't stop for the next ten days or so.

One thing that I wasn't expecting was the denseness of the foliage to last through the stretch and into the flowering stage. Usually a dense, squat plant stretches out with increased internode spacing and ‘thins out' at the top end; not these girls! In hindsight, I reckon I could have gotten away with five or six ladies, rather than ten.

The Flowering Period

One thing that I noticed about the Mat Blue's was the early bud development, within a few days of switching the lights I could see pistils beginning to form and from then on they grew denser by the day. I put this down to the speed of development in the veg period, the plants were so compact, lush and green by the time I switched the lights - they obviously loved the concentrated nutes!

The resin crystals were noticeable from around the second week of flowering, the Mazar and Black Domina heritage was really beginning to show through - with a strong musky smell emanating very early in the flowering period. I was glad of the 8 inch fan and filter!

The denseness of the foliage was obviously having an effect of the size of the buds and I did some serious manicuring under the level of the canopy to get rid of those excess leaves and divert energy into bud development. I had the oscillating fan on constantly during lights on and intermittently during lights off, this helped prevent any mould or rot developing. Even with plenty of air movement and a big extraction fan, the girls still suffered with a bit of heat stress during the Easter hot spell.

One thing that is for sure, what I have lost out on bud I expect to make back in some good quality hash. There is so much trichome development on the plants that I cannot wait to get the extraction bags out. We're talking serious sugar leaf!!

At the time of going to print I reckon we are around two weeks away from harvest, which means by the time you read this I should be enjoying the full hit of the Mat Blue. I'm hoping it'll be the perfect head wrecker for a warm summer's day! Check back next issue for the smoke and cure report.