What’s better than half of a dark red, deliciously juicy, strawberry? The entire strawberry is the unquestionable answer.
After many, many years of selecting and breeding, when our autofl owering strains reached to a point where yield, resin production, aromas and cannabinoid content were all improved to an unbelievable extent, we asked ourselves what else could we do to get them closer to perfection. Our clients and friends had the obvious answer, sharing it with us in the form of a request: “Please magnify your sweets!
We realized they were totally right and decided to embrace this mission in that exact same moment, almost 10 years ago. By then, we already had our Big Devil #2 Auto® (SWS20), a 2nd Generation autofl owering strain that can reach to between 100 cm and 150 cm in height. This, along with its sweet aromas with hints of incense and Skunk and the high yields in just 9 weeks from germination, turned this autofl owering strain from the Sweet Seeds®’ genetic collection into a classic with which loads of home growers fell in love in a way that they still have a special space for her in their grow area today.But that was not enough for a team of breeders obsessed with perfection and we were quite sure that our fellow growers deserved even more.
In 2012, we released the first strain of a new concept: the XL Auto® family. By hybridizing our Big Devil #2 Auto® with a selected genetic autoflowering line of Jack Herer from the Sweet Seeds®’ R&D Department, we managed to give it a bit more size and yield, while keeping all the other interesting traits intact. I’m talking about our Big Devil XL Auto® (SWS28), a 3rd Generation autofl owering strain that became a best-seller in the market of cannabis autoflowering seeds.
After this, our path was clear: getting our best autoflowering strains available in extra-sized version. After 3 years of a hard breeding work of selection and improvement, we released one of our favourite autoflowering strains in extra-sized version. Our Cream Mandarine XL Auto® (SWS55) was ready to invade the gardens of every grower who loves frosty flowers with a sweet scent of fruit. Another 3 years passed and in 2018 we released Green Poison XL Auto® (SWS71), one of the most appreciated strains from the Sweet Seeds®’ genetic collection in autofl owering and tall-stemmed version.
Very recently, in the fi rst trimester of 2019, we added two new members to the autofl owering NBA team. Sweet Cheese XL Auto® (SWS77) and Jack 47 XL Auto® (SWS78) have already been playing the extra-large game for the whole season with countless appearances in gardens around the world. And it has been an outstanding season for them and the team. We often receive great feedback from our clients and friends, while we can also see how they perform in many gardens through journals in cannabis forums.
But I also had to try them myself, just to be sure that their evolution in regards to their “normal-sized” versions is positive in every way, as it is with the other members of the XL Auto® team. As a lover of the original Sweet Cheese® (SWS19) and as someone who sees Jack 47 Auto® (SWS31) as one the best Sativa autofl owering strains out there, throwing 4 seeds of each one of their big-sized version into a wet paper towel was a moment of pure joy and satisfaction.
I was about to experience 9 weeks of sweet and aromatic entertainment, sitting in the fi rst row.The 4 seeds of Jack 47 XL Auto® sprouted in about 48 hours. By then, only 1 of the 4 Sweet Cheese XL Auto® seeds were showing an open shell. The other 3 seeds needed an additional 72 hours to turn into a living being. By then, they were all in their fi rst small pot: a container of around 400ml, where they spent their fi rst 14 days of life. By the 15th day from germination, they were transplanted to the fi nal pots of 11 liters, measuring 22 cm x 22 cm each. In that same day they were transferred to my fl owering closet of 100 cm x 100 cm and 180 cm of height.
The 8 pots fi tted perfectly in that area, leaving only one space empty (I could fi t there a 9th pot), which I decided to leave empty to give me a better margin of space for working them out through their life cycle.They were grown with a photoperiod of 20/4 from germination to harvest and they were fl owered with 400 watts of High Pressure Sodium lighting. With a top quality professional extractor and a very decent intractor, as I usually use, this area could work very well with a 600 watt HPS system, but in my case this experience happened between late Spring and early Summer and the weather was already too hot for a 600 watt HPS and the extra heat it produces.
For air circulation inside the closet I used 2 small Sunon fans, blowing air directly to the top of the plants and the bulb. The plants kept stretching at a good pace. Although Jack 47 XL Auto® is a bit more Sativa than Sweet Cheese XL Auto®, the two strains feature a very similar height and structure. But 2 plants of Jack 47 XL Auto® were from a different phenotype, stretching a bit more and developing so many side branches that I had to perform a bit of LST (Low Stress Training) throughout two sessions on them, to keep the canopy leveled. Coincidently, by the 24th day from germination, these 2 plants started flowering, while all the other 6 plants only started flowering between the 27th and the 30th day.
Luckily the two LST sessions were enough and by the 35th day the plants were very even with a difference of no more than 10 cm between the tallest and the shortest plants. Even though, at this point they were still stretching like mushrooms, growing with a rhythm almost visible to the naked eye. By then they measured around 90 cm in height but, the best part, the good number of side branches and the short internodal distance in almost all of the plants turned them not only into tall plants, but also bushy, covering the whole area available.
At this point, the first stage of resin production was also taking place and by rubbing the fingers in some shoots to break the trichomes and release the terpenes, one could already figure out what was up to come from these beauties. The aromas were all still a bit “green” (as immature) and the type of smell could not be defined, but it was already possible to come to the conclusion that all of them would end up with a pleasant and sweet fragrance. Sweet Cheese XL Auto® already featured a more intense aroma and Jack 47 XL Auto® the characteristic wood scents of most strains with Jack Herer on its genes.
When getting to the 40th day from germination these two new XL Auto® strains got their first watering with liquid fertilizers. As I use a good soil mix, especially designed for cannabis growing and with all the nutrients in the right amount for the plant’s needs for at least 25 days and with the transplant at day 15, they could perform well until then without any liquid fertilizers. By the 47th day from germination they received their second and last liquid fertilization, as I was expecting harvest in between 15 and 20 days. Along with the liquid fertilizer they also received bloom stimulator for two times. All the products were organic and designed for cannabis growing.
As I used very few fertilizers and stopped using them more than 2 weeks before harvest, I refrained to perform a conventional flush and, instead, just watered them with a bit more water than usual at day 54 from germination, until a good amount of water came out of the drainage holes. And by then they were full blown plants. With heights standing between 95 cm and 105cm, almost too tall for my closet, as from the 200 cm I have to give it about 25 cm for the bulb & reflector and about 35 cm of distance between the bulb and the top colas. Outdoors, they would have grown even taller, with bigger pots and the most powerful light source: the sun.
Aromas were also at their best in this stage. Jack 47 XL Auto® released a very sweet and fresh aroma, with citrus hints and a touch of incense, so characteristic of its ancestors from the Sweet Seeds®’ genetic collection. On the other hand, Sweet Cheese XL Auto® preserves the intense and characteristic remarkably sweet Skunk aroma of the original Sweet Cheese®. After all it was developed through a recurrent selection program of tall-stemmed and high production specimens of Sweet Cheese Auto® (SWS33) along multiple generations, turning it into a bigger plant without introducing any other traits from other genetic lines. The sweet Skunk aroma is combined in perfect harmony with tones of matured spicy cheese and a soft touch of lemon.
At day 57 from germination all the Sweet Cheese XL Auto® plants were mature enough for harvest, but I decided to give them an extra 4 days and harvested at day 61. The Jack 47 XL Auto® plants needed a bit more and although they could have been harvested by day 64, I decided to give them 5 extra days and closed shop at day 69 from germination. Both strains are very easy to manicure and leave a good amount of hash in the scissor blades. All together, I ended up with a scissor hash bar of 3 grams. The 4 Sweet Cheese XL Auto® yielded a total of 166 grams of dried high-quality buds and the 4 Jack 47 XL Auto® produced 183 grams.
So, now you know how it goes when it comes to growing the tallest and most productive autoflowering strains. Have a look at the Sweet Seeds® catalog and choose your favorite XL Auto® strain. We are sure that you will fall in love with all their organoleptic characteristics and a size never before seen in the cannabis autoflowering world. All this with the outstanding effects that you can find in every THC-rich modern hybrid from our genetic collection. With Sweet Cheese XL Auto® and Jack 47 XL Auto® you can get all this and fill your garden or indoor growing area with the biggest and most robust plants you will ever grow. You will feel just like a big, big grower with a sweet tooth in a big, big world.
Written and Published By Tommy L. Gomez Sweet Seeds In Weed World Magazine Issue 145
