Dutch Passion Auto Mazar heads up North

[Dr Who]

I thought I'd note the progress of an Auto Mazar I have growing in a greenhouse. It's at 55 degrees North, and about 600 feet above sea level. Growing conditions are decidedly not too great, and I feel that I had this one out a little too early. She struggled in the colder weather (temperatures have been down at least as low as 40 F occasionally), and was stuck by some pest problems. Once things warmed up a bit she managed to grow through any problems, and has been making a few nice looking buds. Average temperatures are now around 60 F, which is probably still a good bit cooler than is optimal for these plants.
I wasn't sure how she would do up here, despite some real success stories from Belgium - I think they probably have better weather. So I'm pleased to have got this far, although it is never going to be a monster plant. It has been a really low tech grow, and very low maintenance. I don't think that the auto version of Frisian Dew had hit the shelves of my suppliers when I stocked up for this year, but it's on my list to try next year. I'd really like to know whether anybody has any idea whether there are other Dutch Passion strains which might be good in this kind of climate (if not maybe I'll have a crack at a few indoors).
The first pic was about a week ago, and the second earlier today in a brief spell of sunshine. I'm struggling to see much difference, although that might just be because they are actually rather poor pictures. I'll try to keep this updated with her progress over the next few weeks.

 

[DutchPassionTony]

good luck to the good doctor! At that altitude and latitude it is going to be a tough ask. The key thing will be getting good warm and sunny weather till the end. The cooler temps will have slowed growth so allow a few extra weeks at the end for her to finish. A greenhouse heater could be a good idea if required, it will be great if this works out, please keep the diary going

 

[Dr Who]

Well, I'm not sure how much this has come along since the last update. It still looks as though it could have a while longer to go, as many of the leaves are still looking pretty healthy. The buds are looking fairly chunky though so things are still looking good.

 

[oldster]

Normal for them to stop vertical growth as they concentrate on developing their buds. Looking good considering what you have to deal with

 

[insert name here]

You'll be impressed at the yeilds you can get from the AM indoors!!! Nice looking plants considering the conditions!!!

 

[Dr Who]

Rot watch is on

It's a bit of a shame to have to report that over the last few days the growing threat of mould has forced me to remove two pretty sizeable chunks off the top of the Auto Mazar, although having just had a read through Maffro's thread I'm actually pretty pleased to have got this far with her. I'm also remaining moderately hopeful that by taking pretty drastic measures quickly I can still get the rest of the plant to go on for another couple of weeks to ripen up a bit. Added to that I have got a couple of very chunky looking pieces of bud, even after dissecting the early stages of bud rot out, which are quick drying and will probably give me a nice taster of the delights to come.
:Sharing One:

 

[oldster]

It's a bit of a shame to have to report that over the last few days the growing threat of mould has forced me to remove two pretty sizeable chunks off the top of the Auto Mazar, although having just had a read through Maffro's thread I'm actually pretty pleased to have got this far with her. I'm also remaining moderately hopeful that by taking pretty drastic measures quickly I can still get the rest of the plant to go on for another couple of weeks to ripen up a bit. Added to that I have got a couple of very chunky looking pieces of bud, even after dissecting the early stages of bud rot out, which are quick drying and will probably give me a nice taster of the delights to come.
:Sharing One:

Hope you are able to get the mold stopped. I really suck when you get this close to the end an mold starts to eat everything. Can you increase airflow around it?

 

[Dr Who]

Thanks Oldster, I've cut back well past any visible signs of mould, and none of the other buds seem to be of comparable size. The problem seemed to be mould just getting started in the humid air spaces between the individual floral clusters of the colas. I've cut a lot off, but I saw sufficient climatic atrocities against herbkind to convince me that this is probably a good approach. If not I could well have found the whole cola lost by the next morning.

I've given her a feed of something called Ripen, I can't say that I actually have that much faith in it speeding up the finish, but nothing ventured nothing gained. It seems a bit of a shame to taint an otherwise organic grow, let's hope it works out. It is exactly the kind of situation that I got the Ripen stuff for anyway. I'm thinking that it may well just be on water from here on out.

 

[Dr Who]

Time for an update...

It's been around a fortnight since the first signs of mould appeared, and so far I have been quickly pruning it (and the immediately surrounding growth) out. So far I have been able to rescue pretty much all of the buds that have been removed. I've certainly been much better at spotting, and taking action, at the very early stages than I was last year, even if I haven't managed any better otherwise. I'm currently pondering whether to chop the whole of the remaining plant, mostly so that I can have it all harvested together, or to just keep picking away at it as each but reaches a sufficient level of ripeness to start to succumb to the rot. I'll check it this evening and if all is well I'll probably leave it at least until the next minor mould episode.

Perhaps its also time to have a brief reflection on the economics of the grow. The last time I went to Holland I had the opportunity to visit Utrecht's newest coffee shop (and actually I certainly can't recommend their coffee), where a gram of Amnesia cost me 12 Euros. It was certainly nice, but I certainly don't feel that it was miles better than what I have grown. Given that the all in cost of the grow was probably no more than this, and the bulk of that was the cost of the seed, I reckon that I only need to recover a gram of smokeable buds to break even. So the good news is that I've probably already smoked at least that much from the early prunings, and there's probably a similar amount still drying. There is a very strong chance that this plant could be producing the cheapest (worthwhile) weed I've ever come across. Cost wise I reckon it's probably comparable to a large bag of kief I bought in Morocco about 20 years ago.

 

[oldster]

It is so much more economical to grow your own there is really no contest as long as you are able to wait for it to be ready. You also know exactly what you are getting which is another big plus in my book. keep at it Dr. Who