Growing Blueberry Cookies and Ocean Grown Cookies
We interviewed Antonio, an indoor grower who tested Dinafem’s two new Cookie strains, i.e. Blueberry Cookies and Ocean Grown Cookies, with excellent results. [caption id="attachment_39615" align="alignnone" width="1920"] View of a grow tent during the vegetative stage[/caption] Antonio is a home growing enthusiast. It all started when his girlfriend told him that some friends would let the couple plant grass in their terrace. Ever since that first crush on cannabis growing, he has continued his never-ending journey to discover new strains. As he put it, everyone needs to nurture a passion and this new passion was a kick-off for his later activity – he started investing in equipment to fit out his own home growing space without depending on others.
Antonio’s growing space
His home growing space is a guest room, whose window is kept open with the blind down. Here he installed a grow tent measuring 90 x 90 m with a Platinum LED P300 panel, which only consumes 93 W during growth and 180 W during bloom, thus saving energy with virtually no heat.
[caption id="attachment_39614" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Vegetative stage for OG Cookies and Blueberry Cookies[/caption]
The grow tent has two fans and the door is left open in order to keep a constant temperature of around 24.5º to 25.5º during the day and around 20º to 21º at night. He also uses a dehumidifier to keep humidity at 60% during growth and 55% or so during bloom.
He explained that, when the plant tips reach the LED panel, he moves them one palm and a half away to avoid their burning and produce flower clusters and a large quantity of trichomes although, due to the intensity of the light, the upper tips can turn white.
Substrate and fertilisation
He normally uses 10-litre air pots, which are especially designed to increase the root ball and make it more fibrous, for water and nutrients to be easily absorbed and the substrate to become more oxygenated. At the bottom of the pot, he puts a 1 cm layer of perlite, on which he places 3 cm of Biobizz's All Mix and a further layer of Biobizz's Light Mix until the pot is almost filled up. The substrate is finally topped up by Superguano (bat guano) and Top Vulcan (volcanic lava), both available from Top Crop.
[caption id="attachment_39613" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Purple hues in Blueberry Cookies[/caption]
For fertilisation, he uses BAC base fertilisers combined with the full range of growth boosters available from Advanced Nutrients. In particular, he uses Rhino Skin, Big Bud, Bud Factor X, Bud Candy, Tarántula, Piraña, Nirvana, Overdrive, Sensi Zym and B52. In addition, at the end of flowering, he irrigates plants with water alternatively mixed with the above stimulators and Bloombastic. Since he only grows four plants in his tent, he customises irrigation by mixing water with the appropriate nutrients each time.
Pruning, meshing, height control and defoliation
With a 3D printer, he made a frame where all plants are secured. The frame is also used to keep branches open and ensure a low plant size– otherwise said, he applies a Low Stress Training (LST) method. In normal growth, plants usually develop a large-sized main bud, with much smaller ones.
This training method is applied during growth and consists in tying the main branch, which grows in a more open position, where secondary branches quickly reach out for the light and produce homogenous buds. In addition to the LST method, he uses a mesh for plants to grow horizontally.
[caption id="attachment_39612" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Lush vegetation in Blueberry Cookies[/caption]
He then prunes the tips of lower branches because, when plants are grown under LED lamps, these branches produce low-quality buds. Between the second and third week of flowering, he usually removes larger leaves for buds not to remain covered.
Blueberry Cookies and Ocean Grown Cookies – growth and flowering
In the grow test of the two strains, Antonio germinated seeds directly in the soil and seedlings appeared after three days. Plants grew with abundant branches and a bushy profile. One Blueberry Cookies specimen grew quite tall, with a long main cola. Its leaves were thick and beautifully purple, with very thick leaflets. In the vegetative stage, plants grew solidly, but quietly.
As soon as they moved to the flowering stage, their development became explosive. The branches continued to grow and generated much foliage with sprouts appearing on all sides. Many lower branches also appeared, but were later removed. The Blueberry Cookies plants tended to grow more than the Ocean Grown Cookies and continued developing even after apical pruning – their sprouts first gathered in uniform rows and then densified each week.
From the second week onwards, Ocean Grown Cookies stood out for its intense smell, which filled the room, as well as for the beauty of its foliage. In both strains, the concentration of trichomes was impressive, with several flower clusters and resin-filled leaves. At the end of flowering, there was such a concentration of resin that the buds almost looked like THC candies.
Buds were cut out and trimmed accurately. Their drying was done in a propagation tent, with a small dehumidifier. Every day, Antonio put a 6-litre bottle of frozen water in it to keep the temperature down.
Tasting of Blueberry Cookies and Ocean Grown Cookies
Once dry, the buds looked impressive, standing out for their resin and density. Then it was time to taste them. Blueberry Cookies had a very intense sweet and fruity taste. Smoking it was a pleasant and delightful experience, which drew the attention of visitors for its relaxing and creative effect. OG Cookies too tasted quite sweet, although on a much earthier base.
Antonio said he was very satisfied with Dinafem seeds, which he had already tried on other occasions – because they are error-proof and easy to germinate and their results are invariably reliable and above expectations.
Germination
Recently germinated plants
OG Cookies and Blueberry Cookies in the early vegetative stag
A Blueberry Cookies seedling
Vegetative stage
3D printing for Low Stress Training
Low Stress Training
Pruning of low branches on Blueberry Cookies and Ocean Grown Cookies
Abundant flowering
Colas of Blueberry Cookies
Ocean Grown Cookies at the end of bloom
Bud with a white tip for excess light
Detail of a bud at the end of bloom
Ocean Grown Cookies freshly harvested
Blueberry Cookies freshly harvested
E
Exitable
