SiliconeBud's Sweet Purple Grow

Hey Fellow Growers,

My first post and grow journal, all rolled into one but I've been watching this site for over a year. My first grow was GH CHEMDOG, indoor, DWC and CFL lighting and AN Sensi nutes. My first successful grow took a long time, I was learning and not very patient. It took 15 seeds, 4 months and switching from soil to DWC before I was able to get anything to grow properly.

I followed VoidObjects Grow #3 here and on YouTube. He was about 1 month a head of where my CHEMDOG was so following his journal was like a crystal ball looking into the future. Even though he was growing a different strain and using HIDS, following his grow was very,very helpful.

So a real big thanks to VoidObject.

This is my second grow, Sweet Purple (Feminized) from Paradise. I started from seed back in November and she is now finishing her 3rd week of flower.

I wasn't able to find much detail about growing this strain, especially indoors, so I thought creating a grow journal hopefully will help others.


Sweet Purple Grow:

* Indoor grow,
* CFLs and DWC.
* "Advanced Nutrients" Sensi Grow & Bloom 2 Part - the non PH balanced varient.
* CALMAG

For seedling, veg and flowering stages I'm following the Advanced Nutrients chart/calculator.

A little back ground of this grow till now:

Veg Stage:
--------------
* Started seed in soaked paper towel and 24 hours later germinated.
* Placed into 1" rock wool cube and 3 days she sprouted.
* Also I was surprised to see the tap root had also poked through bottom of rock wool.
* Placed into 1 Gallon DWC system, only CALMAG was given for food.
* End of Week 1 reached 2", 2nd set of leaves and started a seedling nutrient regimen.
* End of Week 2 reached 4", started on "2nd week" veg nutrient regimen and placed into 20 litre DWC system
* End of Week 3 reached 8", switched to bloom nutes and changed light to 12/12 with 27k bulbs.
* Total of 19 nodes including main cola
* Removed bottom 4 branches leaving 15 nodes left.
* Trimmed sub nodes from all other branches.


Sweet Purple : Veg end of Week 2



Sweet Purple : Veg end of Week 3

Somewhere online I read that the Sweet Purple strain grows very fast, so far this seems to be correct, and when switched into flower can grow 3 times the size. Also there was a suggestion to switch to flower when it reached a height of 4". My experience with the CHEMDOG, which grew to 36", is I don't want a plant to get that big again. But I figure my grow room can easily handle a 24" plant.

I figured if I veg till she reaches 8" then it would be safe that she won't grow beyond 24".


Flower Stage:
----------------
* End of Week 1 reached 11" tall, using week 1 on of AN bloom nutrient regimen. Also Pre-flowers appeared at the inter-nodes.
* End of Week 2 reached 15" tall, some pistols showing at tip of nodes
* Trimmed sub nodes again from all branches.



Sweet Purple : Flower End of Week 1



Sweet Purple : Flower End of Week 2


I'll follow up with more posts and pics as she develops.


Cheers,

tight nodes man!

End of week 3 of flower and it's Saturday which is the day I do a full water change and check the height.

She's now 19" tall, grew 4" this week, and flowers showing at every node, but not as far along as I would expect for the end of week 3. My guess is I threw her into flower before showing any pre-flowers, which took a week. So instead of 9 weeks of flower I'm now expecting 10 weeks?

Not sure if the pre-flower stage is the case for the extra week but this is a difference from my last grow which I vegged for 2.5 months and she had pre-flowers and chopped in 9 weeks.

She is drinking 10 liters of water each week from her 20 liter DWC reservoir. So it was now time to move her to the 28 liter reservoir which she'll finish her life in.


Flowers at the end of the nodes and inter-nodes of the branches.


Getting big @ 19" tall at the end of week 3.

My goal is to keep her at or below 24" by harvest. From the rate she is still growing I don't think she will stop growing after 4 weeks of flower. Maybe by week 5 or 6.

Up till now she had no smell coming off her but now I'm noticing a light skunky smell when I brush the leaves.

If you have any comments or suggestions, let me know.

Cheers,
- SB -

this is bad ass SB. Nicely done. You have so many freaking CFLs on that thing. I think that is where I'm missing it. I'll take your advice and get some 6500k bulbs to replace the few 2700k ones that are mixed in.

Awesome job.

Thanks SmoothPollock. I used 12 6500k CFL bulbs during veg. For flowering I have 13 of the 23watt and 2 65watt 2700k bulbs.

Plant seems to like it,even the bottom branches are flowering nicely. But one other thing I've done is build my own light reflector, I think this helps a lot too.

I'll take a picture of it on Saturday and post it for you.

Cheers
- SB -

that would be awesome! I've been looking for something I can build myself that would work well with multiple CFLs. Also, it doesn't seem like you're using any mylar or anything reflective on the walls... are you opposed to that? ...and if so why? I appreciate your advice as it seems you have this method locked down pretty tight.

Thanks for the compliment SP, my grow room seems to be working and so far plants like it.

As far as mylar, nope not against it just didn't think I needed it. Starting out I just learned to keep it super simple (KISS). Some may say mylar helps and if it does its probably just a little.

Cheers
- SB -

End of Week 4 of Flower/ Start of week 5.

This week she measures in at 22" but the last few days have shown little to no growth. So she grew 3" this week and hopefully slowing down to keep her below 24". So for this strain I can diffidently say the plant will grow 3 times the size from the start of flowering.

I attribute the slow growth to maybe the pH being way off. Probably because I added an extra 10 liters of water and nutes on Wednesday and haven't readjusted the pH since then. I'm not going to change out the reservoir this week. Plenty of water and according to the AN calculator, for the 2 part boom, the next 3 weeks will have the same level of nutes. So rather than waste this water and nutes I'll leave it but next week I will change and clean out the reservoir to ensure no contaminates enter.

Everything is looking really good, the flowers are really kicking off and starting to see the first signs of frost appearing on the lower nodes. Funny how that works, I would have expected the node at the end of the branch to show more frosting as it is getting more light? Anybody know why this might be?

No real smell coming off this plant, so I don't really need to turn on the inline fan with the carbon filter yet. Basically the smell is so little, when I open the grow tent it doesn't smell at all of weed.

Also, now that I see the stage the flowers are at I will adjust my total week of flowering from 9 to 10. But who know, every strain and grow room gives different results, heck might even be ready in 12 weeks. But I'll set my expectations for 10 weeks and harvesting around March 3rd.




Cheers
-SB-

very nice! makes me want to try hydro, soil insects are evil.
never seen this strain done indoors before, outdoors they go massive an very dark purple/sweet.
in my opinion the colder the temps get during flower, the more purple they will go.

+sub +rep + Goodluck!

Update : End of week 5, start of week 6

This week she measured in at 22.75 inches (22 3/4"). She has really slowed down and the 3/4" growth probably is the main cola bud. I'm happy since I'm pretty sure now she'll be kept under 24" for harvest.

She is really becoming frosty on the nodes in the middle of the plant and up. The lower branches, farthest away from the light, are getting frosty but behind the others.

I've got a bit of nute burn, showing on the tips of most leaves, so this week in my water change I scaled back the nutes.
I'm following the AN calculator, using the medium feeding for flowering, but it is really more of a guide than a rule, depends on the size of the plant. And from my previous grow I bet I can roll back the nutes even more.

I've noticed the calyxes , ones that appeared as pre-flowers, near the top of the main stem are huge, twice to three times the size of a bebe pellet. Not sure what that means but I'm assuming this girl is getting ready to double or triple the size of her buds soon.

An one other thing, which I hope I'm wrong, is I may have spotted a male flower in one of the buds. Really hard to tell even after I picked it off if but I check the rest of the plant and I didn't see anything else that resembles a male flower. I'm hoping it was just a very young leaf that was just yellow.



A few pics showing this weeks development.



Showing some frost




A little nute burn on the tips of the leaves.




Water change: I'm finding a 30 liter reservoir is a bit heavy to move around. So I use a small submersible pump and pump the water from the reservoir to a bucket, taking two trips.

The roots look nice and healthy, no worries here.

5 weeks to go.

Cheers
- SB -

Looks good bruh

End of week 6, start of Week 7.

Not much to report this weeks. Buds are growing and getting frosty with 4 weeks left to go. I figure this week I will start seeing some real change in bud size. Exactly 23" tall, 1/4" growth this week.

On Wednesday I added 5 liters of water to the reservoir, adjusted pH, but added no nutes.

Will do a res change today, lowering the amount of nutes again. I'm not seeing any additional nute burn from the previous week but hard to tell. I still think I can pull back a little and not effect bud quality.

Leaves are not turning purple, but I may still have a couple of weeks to go before seeing any change.

And the best thing is there is still no smell coming off this plant unless I stick my face right into her buds or lightly touch an area with trichs. The smell has a smokey citrus scent to it.

So for pics, the first batch are standard and the second batch I've added close ups of the buds.





Close up pics



Cheers
- SB -

Well, one day after I posted the above update I noticed the room my grow closet is in smelling of ripening bud. Needless to say I had to turn on the inline fan with the carbon filter. Hopefully this will cover the smell.

Examining the bud today I can tell they are getting bigger, even from just two days ago. Trichs are still clear.

These next couple of weeks are going to be the hardest to wait ..... So close but yet still so far away.

Cheers
- SB -

Looking really nice bro !!!

Lookin good.

Reporting One day early this week. End of Week 7 and Start of Week 8.

3 weeks to go, or maybe 2???



She's sticking to 23" tall and I've found a few young male flowers hidden in the bud. Not unusual for this to happen but I'm picking them out when I see them.

The smell has really started to come on but for me not very pleasant. On Sunday she smelled of smokey citrus but 5 days later she's smells more of old rotting cabbage . Weird!!!!

The inline fan with the carbon filter masks everything, I love it and should have bought one last year instead of my house stinking up and wife complaining.So we are now both happy.

She has not turned purple yet, not one leaf, but maybe that cabbage smell is an indicator that things will be changing soon.

Out of the 15 CFL lights I turned off 4. This is my plan to help cool down the grow room during the day and simulate more autumn like light. Lets see how this turns out. Next week I'll also be switching to 10 on and 14 off for lights. Maybe these will also help indicate to the plant it's time to turn purple?

I didn't take too many pictures this week, see above, but I did want to show the difference of the same bud over the past week. Really getting frosty now and a lot of change.

Last Week : Below



This Week: Below




Cheers
- SB -

End of Week 8, Start of week 9. Holding at 23" tall.



I'm pretty sure she is finishing up this week so I've started my version of flushing, simply topping up the reservoir with pH water only. No more nutes. PPM this morning is at 500. Let me know if you thinks she is getting chopped to early, I'm in no rush to harvest.

The pistol hairs are all turning brown, very very few new pistols are showing up. The leaves are starting to become brittle, like autumn has kicked in. Trichs are starting to turn cloudy but most of them still clear.






What's really disappointed me about this grow is this was suppose to be a purple strain but no purple leaves or buds, for whatever reason.

Yesterday I also switched the lights to 10/14, meaning 10 hours of light only, just to see how the plant reacts. The smell has also changed a bit, getting back to a skunky citrus smell but there is still a good hint of rotting cabbage.

Cheers
- SB -

Looking good man !!!
What made you want to change to the diff light times ???

lykarckstar420 said:

Looking good man !!!
What made you want to change to the diff light times ???

Click to expand...

Sweet purple is an early harvest strain, harvesting late September or early October and bred to grow in cooler climates. So the change of lights to 10/14 is to help mimic a northern hemisphere light for this time of year.

I'm seeing if the plant reacts to this change and if she starts to swing to a change of purple. I know, not so much time left but it's not so much for this grow but for the next time I grow this strain.

Cheers
- SB -

Hey bud, just caught up on your grow. Everything is looking good from where I stand (inexperienced as can be), and am looking forward to my next few weeks to see the changes you have documented in your thread above. Nice job, I hope my turns out half as good as yours seems to have. Be sure to post all the way through your harvest and whatnot! You have been my primary guidance through my first grow, and am looking forward to seeing how yours turns out!

Peace
-Smooth