Growing cannabis indoors can be challenging. It’s a long process that can overwhelm beginners who lack the knowledge they need to be successful. If you persevere and hurdle over the walls you hit, you can reap the rewards of your own home-grown cannabis harvest. When that happens, a feeling of accomplishment and pride will hit you like a ton of bricks. In this article, I will spill the details on my 2.4 lb harvest that was achieved by growing indoors.
I grew nine plants that were nine different strains. They were grown in a 4’x8’ grow space. For lighting I used two Electric Sky ES300 LED grow lights by The Green Sunshine Company and one Solar System 1100 LED grow light by California Lightworks. Let me just make it clear that this was not a side-by-side comparison grow. I grew a variety of strains this round, all with different characteristics – so comparing wouldn’t be fair. All plants were in soil, in 5-gallon grow pots, and were fed nutrients by Blue Planet Nutrients.
Ok, now onto the plants. All of these plants are photoperiod plants and were in the vegetation stage for 55 days. Let’s start with…
Pineapple Express by G13 Labs
Pineapple Express is a hybrid strain that was made famous from the movie Pineapple Express starring Seth Rogen and James Franco. This one seemed to be more indica dominant as it stayed short and didn’t stretch much when I flipped to flower. I topped it at the 5th node and then did some LST (low-stress training) in order to widen the plant and even out the canopy. All plants were supported by a trellis net this round and I continued to tuck branches under the netting until about day 10 of flowering – so the middle of the stretch phase. This resulted in the center of the Pineapple Express plant having several dense, golf-ball-sized buds. I was very happy, and a bit surprised by the bud density. I thought this plant was going to be the smallest yielding plant out of them all. I was wrong about that one. Towards the end of flowering, this plant started to turn purple. Absolutely gorgeous. The breeder recommends 53-62 days in flowering. This one was harvested on day 74. So, I harvested much later than the breeder’s recommendation. You’ll notice as we continue to go through the plants that all of them were harvested later than when the breeder recommends. I use the breeder’s recommendation as a guideline but use the color of the trichomes to determine when to harvest. I personally like to harvest when most of the trichomes are cloudy with minimal amber trichomes. Final dry weight on this plant was 119.7 grams.
Pakistan Valley by World of Seeds
Pakistan Valley is a landrace strain obtained from the Hindu Kush mountain range. It is 100% indica and certainly showed it. It was a short plant with tight node spacing and big leaves. I topped this plant at the 5th node and then performed LST. After the plant stopped stretching, it had 10 main colas. One of the buds that was closest to the center of the LED grow light encountered a bit of light bleaching. Some of the tips of the buds were pointy as well. This is foxtailing. Foxtailing is when buds start growing on top of each other to form little towers. There are various reasons that foxtailing occurs but I know for this plant it was because of high heat. I live in a desert region and sometimes the temperature reaches close to 90°F/32°C. No bueno. Anyways, nothing major to worry about; the buds are still smokable. It just doesn’t look pretty. The breeder recommends 45-55 days in flowering. This one was harvested on day 75. Final dry weight for this plant was 109.8 grams.
White Widow x AK-47 by Greenbud Seeds
This strain is an indica dominant hybrid. I topped it at the 5th node then did LST. This plant had several colas that were under the grow light’s “hot spot” so light bleaching occurred on this plant as well. The hot spot, for those of you who don’t know, is the spot directly under the center of the grow light. This is where the density of photons emitted from the fixture is usually at its highest. Light bleaching happens when buds get too much light. The bud turns from green to white. The part of the bud that has been bleached is often less potent and loses its smell. To avoid this, you can increase the light distance, or you can try rotating your plant on a daily basis. I wasn’t able to rotate my plants this round since they were in a trellis net. Oh well. The breeder recommends 50 days in flowering for this strain. I harvested this plant on day 76. Final dry weight for this plant was 148.1 grams.
Brisker OG by Square One Genetics
Brisker OG is a stretchy strain with long innernodes – like a typical OG. I topped this plant at the 3rd node and then did LST. This strain had slower bud growth for the first several weeks of flowering compared to the other strains that I grew this round. At one point I thought something may be wrong with it. But in actuality, the buds were densing up. The buds became so dense that the branches started flopping all over the place. I harvested several other plants in the room before harvesting this one so the trellis net became less stable. I added a tomato cage towards the very end of flowering in order to help support. This pheno had a bit of purpling towards the end of flowering as well. The breeder recommends 63-70 days in flowering. This one was harvested on day 79. The plant then went through the drying process which I’ll quickly explain now. All plants this round, including this one, were dried in a 4’x4′ grow tent – in darkness. The temperature averaged 70°F/21°C and the relative humidity averaged 57%. It took about 7 days to dry. Final dry weight for this plant was 126.3 grams.
Titans Breath by Square One Genetics
I’m glad I ran two strains from Square One Genetics. This one was my favorite plant out of them all! Titans Breath is actually Peanut Butter Breath F2. Just like the Brisker OG, slower bud growth for the first several weeks of flowering then it significantly picked up towards the end of flowering. I topped the plant at the 4th node and then did LST. This one was completely purple by the end of flowering; definitely the prettiest of them all. The breeder recommends 56-63 days in flower. This one was harvested on day 75. It took about 7 days to dry and then I trimmed it. I personally like to do a dry trim on all of my plants. I know it’s a debatable topic but I feel like dry trimming is a bit faster. The leaves comes off the branch with very little effort and the trimmers don’t gunk up as much. I know there are people out there that hate dry trimming and will argue otherwise, but, this is just my personal preference. Final dry weight for this plant was 104.2 grams.
Sour Diesel by Reserva Privada
This Sour Diesel plant was a complete disappointment. It was doomed from almost the beginning but I did grow her out until harvest. Early in the vegetation stage, I started seeing excessively dark green leaves and curling – both are signs of nitrogen toxicity. At that point, I hadn’t fed it any nutrients. It was only using up the original nutrients in the soil – FoxFarm Ocean Forest soil. I’ve never had a plant react like that using FoxFarm soil and I’ve been using it for nearly 10 years. So then, genetics? I did find some reviews on the internet with people not happy with these genetics as well. This strain is a hit or miss I guess. Anyways, you can say this plant was a light feeder. I had to flush it, a few times, throughout the grow and it kept showing signs of nitrogen toxicity even when reducing nutrient dose to ¼ strength. At one point it appeared to be re-vegging; it wouldn’t stop stretching. A real small, airy bud structure which I know from past experience is due to too much nitrogen while in the flowering stage. The breeder recommends 70 days in flowering. I ran this one until day 90. I didn’t have to trim this plant. I just chopped it up, bagged it, and put it in the freezer. I’ll be using this entire plant for edibles.
Lemon Skunk by DNA Genetics
This Lemon Skunk plant was easy to train. I topped it at the 4th node and then did LST. Super-sticky buds that were flopping all over the place late in flowering due to the weight. Luckily, I had the trellis net for support or else these branches would’ve flopped over to the floor! This plant actually encountered a bit of calcium deficiency late in flowering as well. The breeder recommends 57-63 days in flowering. This one was harvested on day 72. After drying and trimming, the buds went through the curing process. My curing process consists of putting the buds in air-tight containers and storing them in a dark place that’s room temperature. For the first few weeks of curing, I’ll burp the containers 1-2 times a day. Burping is simply opening the containers and shaking around the buds for a few seconds. I make sure none of the buds are sticking together when I do this. I also place a humidity monitor in the jar and aim for 62% relative humidity. After a few weeks of burping 1-2 times a day, I burp 1-2 times a week. After 1 month, I burp once every 1-2 weeks. Final dry weight was 128.8 grams.
Hitgirl by Jinxproof Genetics
Hitgirl foxtailed the worst out of them all. I grew out this strain last round and it did the same exact thing. I know some genetics naturally foxtail; not sure if this is one of those strains or if both of the plants that I grew foxtailed due to the high temperature. I topped it at the 3rd node and then did LST. It was very stretchy and a very heavy feeder. It stretched close to 20” past the layer of trellis net and started flopping over late in flowering since its buds were so heavy. I added some stakes late in flowering to support. The breeder recommends 56-63 days in flowering, but, the plant was nowhere near done at that time. The Hitgirl plant that I grew out last round I harvested on day 80. The Hitgirl plant from this round was harvested on day 90. Both way past the breeder’s recommendation. Final dry weight was 167.4 grams.
Cotton Candy by Delicious Seeds
Early in the vegetation stage, I knew this plant was going to produce a big yield. I topped it at the 5th node and then did LST. This plant had lots of tops. It started yellowing mid-flowering but bounced back to green with a heavier feeding, so, I’d say this one was a heavy feeder. Just like some of the other big plants in the run, several branches flopped over due to the weight of the buds. The breeder recommends 63-72 days in flowering. This plant was harvested on day 77. Final dry weight was 164.9 grams.
Overall I’m happy with the result. Total dry yield for all plants combined was 2.4 LB. I didn’t count the Sour Diesel plant since I’m using that plant like I use trim – and I don’t count trim in the yield either, of course. Some of you may ask about the gram per watt, but, that calculation doesn’t make sense in my opinion since there were so many variables in this run. So, I didn’t calculate it. How did your most recent harvest turn out? Let me know by leaving a comment below!
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