It is my favorite strain for night time, to be relaxed, serene and with a multitude of positive ideas
Welcome sweet fellow growers of the cannabic world! In this report we will try to show you how to grow this beautiful and productive 3rd generation autoflowering strain from Sweet Seeds®: Green Poison XL Auto® (SWS71). But, at the same time, we hope that this article can be used to grow any other autoflowering strains, as I will explain in great detail everything that is really important to get the maximum potential from this type of genetics, either for indoor or outdoor growing.
For those of you who do not know or never tried any plant of the “Green Poison Family” from Sweet Seeds®, I will tell you a bit about the parents of Green Poison XL Auto® and how it was developed from the original photoperiod-dependent Green Poison® (SWS14).
Green Poison® is a mainly indica hybrid, with long and flexible side branches and the appearance of a sativa plant for its long and thin leaves. But this vigorous plant also produces large and very resinous buds throughout a very fast and explosive flowering stage, as seen in the best indicas.
Until very recently its ancestors were a well-kept secret. It was developed from two elite clones of the highest quality: Skunk and Early Skunk. Both very powerful, aromatic and extremely fast in flowering. The tastes and aromas of this variety are unmistakable. A very strong scent standing between sweet and sour, very fruity and with a very peculiar herbaceous touch. This allowed this strain to gain a lot of fans who year after year can taste and enjoy its tasty fruits. It is perfect for fast and productive grows and an ideal candidate for larger grows performed by cannabis clubs and associations. Besides that, with this strain it is possible to get cuttings that root very fast, allowing you to have rooted clones in less than 10 days.
Over time, this photoperiod-dependent strain was incorporated in what we call the “Green Poison® Family”. Within this family we can find the following strains: Green Poison F1 Fast Version® (SWS41), an ultra-fast strain which can be harvested 6 or 7 weeks after the change to flowering; Green Poison Auto (SWS30), a 3rd generation autoflowering strain that keeps the best characteristics of this great genetic; and Red Poison Auto® (SWS39), a beautiful purple-flowered plant with a very special aroma, which has been named even in a Spanish movie.
More recently, Green Poison CBD® (SWS70) was born, a strain with high levels of CBD, with a THC/CBD ratio of 1:1 and 1:2. This strain was developed from a CBD-rich clone (from the Diesel family) featured in the Sweet Seeds® elite clone collection and features a very penetrating aroma with touches of arugula and nuts on a very sweet and fruity background. The effect of this strain is like a perfect balance between psychoactivity and relaxation.
Over the years, in order to improve and offer the best to every grower, a painstaking work with autoflowering genetics has been performed. This work led to the development of new crosses from which the star of this article was created: Green Poison XL Auto®. A large plant, very resinous and truly productive.
How to grow Green Poison XL Auto®
Here we have the data sheet of this new strain from the Sweet Seeds® collection:
Indica: 56,87% / Sativa: 40% / Ruderalis: 3,12%
THC: 15-20% · CBD: 0,07%
Indoor Yield: 450-600 g/m2
Outdoor Yield: 60-250 g/planta
Indoor/Outdoor Harvest: 8 weeks from germination
Height: 80-125 cm
As you can see, the percentage of ruderalis is very low and the balance between sativa and indica makes this strain a very simple plant to grow for its great hybrid vigor. For an ideal beginning, the seeds should be germinated in a warm place, at around 22ºC, in a glass with water and a few drops of hydrogen peroxide. You can also germinate on moist paper, but if you choose this method, you must be careful not to break the little roots that are trapped between the paper when you transplant them.
Before the second day they should have already germinated and it is time to pass them to a substrate. I used Jiffys because they help in expanding the roots very quickly, but also because they give a good stability to the growth, while the stems remain erect, in addition to making the transplant very simple.
Using an appropriate light is very important from the first days. It can be a CFL light, some LEDs or metal halide, but the most important thing is the spectrum, that should be white or bluish so that the seedlings don’t have to deal with high temperatures.
Once the cotyledons appear, the seedlings should be transplanted to a small pot of between 200 ml and 1 L (if you do not feel comfortable with the transplants, you can place them directly in their final pots that can be of about 25 L maximum, or an aero/hydroponic system). In the first days the same light and temperature should be maintained, without exceeding 25 degrees while having a relatively high humidity and a slight movement of air (supported by a fan) that will strengthen the stems and will also help to prevent stretching. All this, added to an appropriate distance from the light and a good light schedule, for example 18/6 (in the case of indoor growing) will contribute to the development of very strong plants.
Do not forget the nutrients: if you use coco, do the same as with photoperiod-dependents plants. If you use soil, it can be a soft soil or use a soil rich in nutrients (for a month) so that you don’t have to use fertilizers until the plants have used all the food available in the soil. One more piece of advice: use a root stimulator in the vegetative stage and also in the beginning of flowering and use flowering stimulators as soon as you see the first pistils. Stimulators do not raise the EC and can be used without fear of burning the plant. You only have to be careful about the dose, because if you miss it the plants may change sex and show some male flowers.
As you can see, until now there are not many differences when comparing to growing photoperiod-dependent plants. In the end, you will see that it is almost the same, except for this important point that comes next.
Autoflowering plants can/should be grown with the maximum hours of light possible, either from mid-spring to early summer, if it is done outdoors, or with about 18 to 20 hours of artificial light, in the case of indoor growing. As they start flowering regardless of the hours of light they receive, it is better to take advantage of this feature to give them as many hours of light as possible.
But this also has a negative point: the flowering will be naturally triggered approximately between the 3rd and 4th week after germination. If we don’t take care of the plant during this period and it has been stressed due to lack of space in the pot, or lack of light, due to excess or lack of water or food, or bad weather, these problems will have a direct impact in the final production. The most important thing is to transplant them to their final pot before the second week begins, improving the production and preventing the plants from staying stagnant when the flowering begins. As I said before, the seedlings can be placed in their final pot from the beginning, after the germination.
For example, when I grew Green Poison XL Auto®, the last transplant was made on day 10, using 20 L Airpot® pots, with coco. At the end of the 3rd week the plants reached to about 40 cm and were already starting to flower. Then, during the next 2 weeks, completing approximately the 6th week of life, they continued to grow gradually until they reached to about 120 cm.
This variety grows very fast and develops a lot of branches. From the 4th week you can see a good formation of pistils. In my experience I have used specific fertilizers for coco, in quantities of about 90% of the recommended dose since this variety, when given the appropriate amounts of climate and illumination, is a devourer of food.
The lights used for this growing with Green Poison XL Auto® were two sets of LED TGL 220 / CREE 3590. With this, I have managed to completely fill the space of 1.2 square meters with 12 plants inside. The final yield was greater than 1 gram per watt and the quality of the fruits was unbeatable.
The combination of Airpots, coco and LED is one of the best options for growing these autoflowering strains. The LED light penetrates more than high pressure sodium light, without burning the main tip and, in these tall plants, it is very important to improve the production in the lower buds, which are usually very resinous and productive, as in this case.
The other variables help to expand and oxygenate the roots in an optimal way, creating healthy and very productive plants. As always, allowing the substrate to dry a little before you water the plants again is the norm for growing cannabis. It is very important to know the weight of the pot with water and without it. This makes everything easier as you can simply weigh the pots to determine when is the best time to water the plants.
You should also bear in mind that the larger the plant, the greater the yield. Watering should always be performed slowly, to avoid nutrients to be carried away throughout the drainage holes in the bottom of the pot. If it is done carefully, once all the soil is soaked, you can let it drain for about 10% to clean accumulated salts. But, when growing autoflowering plants this is not so necessary until the last 10 or 15 days, when the flush is performed.
I grew Green Poison XL Auto® before with soil and the quality is unbeatable, getting close enough to the yield in coco, so I’m sure that this strain will be a success in all the gardens where the plants are treated as they deserve.
This strain is extremely resinous and its compact buds usually offer great resistance to the best and most powerful grinder. Once dry, the smell is very penetrating and it is when its dried that fruit tones appear, making it an ideal strain to taste in your favorite vaporizer.
It is my favorite strain for night time, to be relaxed, serene and with a multitude of positive ideas. It helps to sleep and it is more than recommended for creativity or inspiration. It is also perfect for a laugh with colleagues in a quiet environment. Not recommended tough to watch movies because it makes you be somewhat clueless and lose track of it all :P. But it is good if you want to create your own version of the story! XD
I hope you enjoyed the reading and hopefully you learned a little more about autoflowering plants, taking advantage of my experience growing this wonderful Green Poison XL Auto®.
Sweet vapors!
Jaypp.
Pastry maker, grower and photographer at Sweet Seeds®.
Originally published in Weed World Magazine issue 139
