Dutch Passion Strawberry Cough - Any advice for a newbie on his second grow?

[low_and_slow]

Tony,
Figured I'd ask in the open forum to see if you had some suggestions. I have 5 beans coming, was planning to germinate 3 and grow straight through to bud...don't have room to keep a mother in 18/6 AND grow autos AND flower photos in 12/12.

This will be my second grow...going to start once all my current autos/photos finish. I'm planning to use 10L pots (can go bigger, that's just what I have for autos) and use Sunshine Mix #4 w/either BioBizz nutes or the rest of what's left in my General Organics "GO Box".

Lighting is weird...240w Black Star AND 150w HPS Sun Systems, side by side in a 3'x3'x6' tent. In an ideal world I would have just gone with a 400w HPS, but I pieced this thing together as a hobbyist initially, the bug bit me, so I had to grow my setup!

Water is from the tap, I let it sit around for 3-4 days in a 5 gallon bucket before use, or if necessary, I use bottled spring water from the grocery if out of "rested" tap water. Not sure on ec yet, currently using just a Hanna pH meter, have a combined pH/TDS meter on the way...should be here next week. pH will be controlled with GH up/down.

I will likely top the plants early to keep them bushy and maybe play some little tricks with string and tape to keep them flat and the canopy at an even level.

Temp/humidity is generally about 75-80* in my tent...can't seem to keep her a whole lot cooler than that, despite having a fan pulling suction AND 4 small clip on fans moving air within the tent. Humidity fluctuates between 48% up to about 60% on hot rainy days (south east coast of the US...think Chesapeake Bay).

Any advice for a relative newbie? How does she handle nutrients? Any known problems to look out for? What's the best feedback about maturing the buds, i.e. let them go to amber, half and half, cloudy only, etc? Preferred drying/curing method to bring out the fruity strawberry taste?

I've heard it's an easy strain to grow with strong branch structure. I've been looking forward to tasting this weed since that scene in Children of Men, and since I started growing a few months ago, it's been on my mind constantly. I love haze-y, "Up" highs but also need a bit of pain relief to help with my auto-immune disorder. Thanks for your time!

 

[TaNg]

I really wanna grow this strain,I read someone on here say it was the nicest tasting weeds they had had. I'm doing my first photo grow soon too, I'm growing DPs Night Queen in a 37L Airpot. I was thinking of topping to as I'm just growing 1 big plant and want it as bushy as poss. As for harvest I will do it the same as autos...20%amber.

 

[big_buddha]

ive smoked strawberry cough but never grown it. It was a nice smoke but the stone never reached the point of true couchlock no matter how many joints I smoked. I heard that the yields were good on the plants mine came from though and it was definitely a decent smoke just more of an up to it. 0.02

 

[mattinuk3]

I got some nice strawberry cough after coming back from vacation and not smoking for 11 days. I had come across this clone before and it was the same stuff I'd had a few times before. However, after firing up the vape like normal it was almost too much. Very trippy and uppy from the thai in the lineage. I started walking down the hall and the damn ground started pitching like I was on the sailboat again! I seriously had to hold on to the walls to keep my balance because the whole room was pitching so bad. Up and down like we were on the breezy ocean again. Never in my life have I had such a powerful experience from weed! Havent come across the same stuff since last June, and now that I think of it, I'd love to get my hands on some again.

 

[low_and_slow]

Right on, sounds like fun...I'm not one to sit on couch drooling on my shirt...I like the trippy sativa style high and don't have a problem with heart rate or being overstimulated because to me that's almost the goal.

The other course of action I'm considering is a smart pot with Roots Organic, OF, or HF layered about 1/3 in the bottom, with Sunshine Mix #4 on the top 2/3...let her grow through the soil-less mix into the nutes and try to only fertilize if there are clear signs of a deficiency. I guess with a big enough pot you might not even need fertilizer until you flip the lights and get her blooming...curious to hear what the DP folks say! :smokebuds:

 

[Kush T]

I have 5 DP strawberry cough in the fride... Not thinking about growing them for a while so it'll be interesting to see what happens here...

I'll sub if you don't mind Low...

Good luck

 

[insert name here]

Would love to see it grown too!!!

 

[DutchPassionTony]

hi all,

Strawberry is a 75% Sativa variety, branches tend to be long, the high is very strong and we get good reports of it being a good anti-anxiety high which some people find very important. it isn't the best yielder, but it was bred for the 'high' and taste rather than the yield. So aiming for an even canopy would be the best way to optimise the harvest. A Scrog or trained system would be good. I would say there are no special points to look out for with her, just 2 main bits of advice would be

a) to get used to the weight of the plant pots so you don't over-water them, it limits root health and that affects the whole plant
b) don't over feed, it will burn the roots and slow the whole plant down. The bigger the plant pot the longer you can go without worrying too much about nutrients

If you get a diary going there will be plenty of good advice for you here. If you get it right she will deliver some great connoisseur stash

 

[Kush T]

If you get it right she will deliver some great connoisseur stash

So that's me out then!!....

 

[low_and_slow]

Sounds good, it'll be a little bit...I'm looking at at least another 70 days of 12/12 in my tent to get my current plants through flowering, but afterwards I'll setup and just do the SC alone. Not too concerned about yield, if I can get 50-70g per plant, that'd be awesome