Queen of the Garden: Sweet Zenzation® by Sweet Seeds®

I am talking about one of the recent new strains of the Sweet Seeds® bank, the magnificent Sweet Zenzation® (SWS84). The parent plants of this new indica cross - with which the entire Sweet Seeds® team fell in love – are a selected élite clone of Zenzation, an American strain from the West Coast with a relaxing effect due to its powerful combination of cannabinoids and a marked candy taste, and another clone of the tasty Grape Ape sourced from the I+D+i department of Sweet Seeds®.

 It is a time bomb that explodes into multiple terpenes, which make your heart get trapped in a tunnel of extreme sweetness and maximum pleasure. Highly recommended for cannabis gourmets. Talking about the effects, I can only surrender to its feet, as it manages to remove any stress that we feel in today’s fast paced world. It is not for beginners, but has a loving effect and is quite good for day-to-day consumption, as it manages to perfectly balance calmness with creativity, and peace with the joviality of a good talk.

Technical details are as follows:

SWS84 Strain

Indica: 70% / Sativa: 30%

THC: 16-23% · CBD: 0.2%

Indoor yield: 450-650 g/m2

Outdoor yield: 400-700 g/plant

Indoor harvesting time: 9 weeks

Outdoor harvesting time: late September - early October

Let us now see how this lady behaves when you germinate some of its seeds and give them a little love. I assure you she is very grateful. An all-terrain vehicle for novices, a monster truck for experts.

Growing candies

 Now, who hasn’t read a few cannabis magazines like this one or visited forums dedicated to cannabis growing in order to get the most out of our beloved plant? The information about cannabis growing is currently available to everyone and is overwhelming in terms of quantity and quality. The time has come to put everything you have learned into practice, and that is when something that at first seemed very simple becomes more complex. But don’t worry, because I will concisely explain how to produce highly tasty organic flowers that are worthy of being featured in a catalogue.

Like almost everything in life, the most important thing is not how it starts, but how it ends. But it is also true that, if you choose the wrong path, the route will take longer to complete and be less pleasant. That is why germination is one of the most important things in plant growing. Poor germination is capable of putting your expectations to an end in less than 3 days.

We must simplify and be careful in these first steps. Less is better. The first thing to do is hydrate the seeds in order to wake them up from their long lethargy. The good thing about Sweet Seeds® products is that they undergo highly efficient germination controls, which helps growers a lot, making this vital step in plant growing easier and faster.

So, these great seeds help you a lot! Put them to soak either in a glass of water – until you see the root sprout –or directly on wet tissue tucked inside a food container or between two dishes. Keep them in a warm place and, in less than 2 days, the seedlings will be ready with a root long enough to penetrate a light substrate. If you buy a soil mix, make sure it is especially formulated for cannabis. If you make it yourself, it should at least contain:

• good, blond peat
• a good-quality earthworm compost
• bat guano
• chicken compost
• dolomite (to prevent magnesium deficiency)
• bone meal (for calcium supply)
• basalt, if you manage to procure it (for an extra supply of extremely pure trace elements)
• other products such as perlite, for example, since it helps the soil oxygenate and, therefore, retain moisture, while contributing for a lighter substrate.

Once you start using your homemade soil mix, you should water it with molasses and seaweed. If possible, preparing a tea of beneficial bacteria is a great plus to activate the micro-life. One thing you can do to ensure that the root ball grows healthy and expands in any soil (either homemade or purchased) is to add mycorrhizae right where you will place your plant in the first transplant.

Preparing the soil mix is a job that can be avoided if you buy soil and liquid fertilisers, but this way you can be sure that the nutrients you supply are totally organic. Of course, sometimes it is not easy to find the right quantities or ingredients. What is more, deficiencies can appear at a later stage owing to poor formulation. It is a challenge, but if you like to do everything as a good home grower, this is highly recommended.

On the other hand, lots of brands produce organic fertilisers that are a great value for money. Do not make things more complicated than necessary - a root booster, a flower stimulator and an organic fertiliser for flowering will do. If you go into ‘pro mode’, you will also need a bottle of enzymes to break down the plant matter, as well as salts and sugars to be fed to your plant. If you are using a soil mix that has the right amount of nutrients, it is more than enough.

Now, indoors or outdoors? I always grow indoors, because I don’t have enough space outside and I will now describe how the amazing Sweet Zenzation® behaved under LED lights in my 120 cm x 120 cm grow tent. In any case, I am pretty sure this strain will also flourish outdoors in a good soil or sufficiently sized pot, as long as you also have training stakes ready, because, mind you, flowers will be huge!

XL sized flowers

 I grew my plants in spring, so the temperature I had in the room under LED lights (which do not produce heat) and the outside temperature were both mild and stable throughout the flowering cycle. The plants were grown in 20-litre air pots for 1 month. The vigour of this wonderful Sweet Seeds® strain was immediately visible, with huge, typically indica leaves, very hard stems and a very tight internodal distance, which were all perfect for indoor growing. Before moving to the flowering stage, the plants measured around 40 cm in height. The final size they reached was about 85 cm – i.e. more than twice as much.

It was spectacular to see how buds grew after the initial appearance of extremely dense pistils, which developed to a much higher degree than in the average, usually medium-yielding American strains. For their tight clustering, these little white hairs that we like so much formed a long central bud dominating along the side branches.

The plant does not branch out much, yet its lower branches are quite productive. If you want to boost its main bud, all you have to do is prune the lower parts before the plant starts to form flowers; as a result, all the vigour will be focused on producing flowers in the central stem. Sweet Zenzation® is perfect for a SOG growing method.

Another aspect is worth noting. Although this strain is known to make use of a lot of food, when the first pistils matured at around day 40 of bloom, I deliberately cut nutrients, because the plants already looked very bright and healthy, and forced them to consume reserves in the substrate and even in their leaves at the end of the cycle.

I didn’t do a soil wash and only fed them with water and enzymes for the last two weeks. I also used an organic feed in moderate amounts. I assure you that the aroma is very pure, sweet and fruity, with a citric note. Some credit should be given to the fact that its smell is not perceivable outside, around your indoor space, which will easily go unnoticed. True, the plant smells a bit too much, but only when you get close to it.

The plants’ appearance in their final days was pure magic. The amount of resin was worthy of admiration and the most striking aspect was how its large population of trichomes stood out against a reddish-purple leaf colour, which is typical of many American strains. The calyxes retained a lime green colour, which were a perfect match to the foliage hues and the caramel tone of the trichomes - thus making this delicious passion-fruit tasting Sweet Zenzation® by Sweet Seeds® an enjoyment for all senses.

They are ideal plants to produce extracts, because they have resin in almost all their leaves. The weed rosin produced exceeds 20% and is usually extremely delicious! When you let these buds dry slowly and cure them in glass jars, you will enjoy a perfect combination of fruity, candy and woody flavours with citric notes and spicy hints. Each puff of it will deliver a superb sensation. You will not feel hyperactive, but rather extremely joyful and creative, as your body will calm down and relax after a hard, stressful day.

Don’t forget to make room in the garden for this new queen of Sweet Seeds®, you will love it!

Sweet Zenzation LINK