Grow Report – Kiss

In the world of cannabis, each strain is a growing experience worth trying out. Today, we invite you to go on a different adventure: the grow report of the strain Kiss by Kannabia. Discover the best kept secrets of this variety that has captivated hearts and palates alike for her unparalleled potency, flavour, and aroma. A journey through every stage of her growth, flowering, and harvest that will definitely surprise you. Welcome to Kiss’s grow report!

Kiss by Kannabia is a cannabis strain that has gained great recognition and appreciation in the cannabis community, becoming one of the most sought-after genetics from Kannabia’s catalogue. As well as being known for her romantic name, she also brings with it a story of love and quality capable of captivating any grower.

Kiss is the result of the cross between two old-school genetics. When these came together after so long, their fusion lit sparks in the eyes of our breeders. On the one hand, an Afghan Mazar-i-Sharif, straight off our shelves. On the other, an original and very expressive 90s clone of the legendary Cheese. This combination results in a unique strain with truly special features: while the Afghan parent provides robustness and resistance, Cheese adds her distinct aroma and flavour to create a 70% indica-dominant seed.

With her compact, medium-sized structure and short internodes, this beauty takes on the classic shape of a Christmas tree with a great central cola when left to grow naturally. Although her lower branches tend to be rather long, she can become a very bushy plant with a uniform canopy with the implementation of the right training techniques.

This plant is highly appreciated for her vigorous growth and her ability to grow wide and compact. She’s also well known for her fast flowering, which makes this strain even more attractive for those looking for speedy results.

Her THC content can climb as high as 21.5%, so she’s a potent strain capable of delivering intense effects and a great sensory experience. What’s more, the notes of cheese and other earthy nuances fuse together to create an unforgettable aromatic bouquet.

Would you like to learn more about this cannabis gem? Then keep on reading!

Kiss’s step-by-step grow guide

This is an indoor grow, in grow tents with LED lighting. The grower experiments with a long vegetative period because he has to face various stressful drawbacks, so he has no choice but to extend this cycle to allow for a better recovery of the plants. And, to make matters worse, the plants’ flowering period ends up being rather short. So what´s the reason for this? You’ll be able to find out in the following grow report, which starts with these growing conditions:

• Grow type: Indoor
• Lighting: 650W LED Mars Hydro FC-E6500
• Grower: Kitties_and_Colas
• Number of plants: 3
• Nutrients: Fox Farm Nutrients (Grow Big / Big Bloom / Tiger Bloom)
• Irrigation: Manual
• Growing medium: Coco coir and perlite
• Vegetative period: 12 weeks
• Flowering period: 8 weeks
• Training techniques: Topping / HST

Germination phase

“We are really excited about this grow! It’s our first time using Kannabia seeds, and we’ve read wonders about them in Reddit and in some specialised forums. We finally have the chance to find out for ourselves! We haven’t grown a ‘cheese’ variety for over four years, so we’re very eager to start this experience”. With this declaration of intent, the grower begins the growing process by placing 4 Kiss seeds in water (along with another 4 White Domina seeds that will be used for another crop). All of them develop roots in just over 30 hours. The fact that all the seeds sprout successfully is a clear indication of their high quality. Cultivation is started with the following parameters:

Grow parameters:

• Daily temperature: 24ºC
• Night temperature: 13ºC
• Hours of light: 18
• Air humidity: 35%
• Pot size: 5 gallons (about 20 litres)
• pH: 6
• Distance between lamp and plant: 76.2 cm

Vegetative phase

During the first week, the grower’s plan is to keep the 4 Kiss seedlings in individual cups with Promix substrate for one or two extra weeks. Then he will select the three best phenos and transplant them to their definitive 20-litre pots, which will be placed under an FC-E6500 lamp. Although all seedlings exhibit similar growth, one of them seems slightly smaller than the rest. However, this doesn’t seem to worry the grower, who keeps an optimistic and observant attitude. During the second week, the colour of all the seedlings begins to lighten, which is seen as an indicator to start feeding them. The grower uses a soilless growing medium, with equal parts of coco coir and perlite. He mentions that feeding the plants at such an early stage is quite a common practice for him.

In the third week, the seedlings seem to be developing well, but some of them start showing spots, which leads the grower to apply a light nutrient solution in the hope of solving this problem. The final selection is also made, and the 3 chosen plants are transplanted into pots to continue with the growing process. Although one of them is slightly less developed than the others, the grower chooses to include it in the selection, based on previous experiences where plants that were slower in their initial growth showed a positive evolution later. In the fourth week, the plants seem to be progressing well after transplantation, but a slight yellowing appears in the lower leaves, so he adjusts the nutrition. The plants respond well to the MarsHydro FC-E6500, and he plans to top them towards the end of the week if growth continues favourably.

In week 5, all the plants are topped on the fourth node, so the secondary stems are distributed in four different directions as they grow. All the plants are growing at a similar pace. They have the same size, and their colour has significantly improved thanks to the increase in nutrients and to the fact that the new light (the FC-E6500) has been adjusted: it is now operating at 65% power and is placed at a distance of 72 cm from the plants. In week 6, the grower makes important decisions about the training of the plants. He decides to let them grow naturally for a little longer before defoliating prior to the flowering. However, he notices that their colour is not uniform. He continues with a light feeding and flexes the branches in the desired direction instead of using ties. Thrips are found in one of the grow tents, but he acts promptly by applying measures to control the situation.

In week seven, after facing slow growth and a small thrip infestation, the grower takes quick measures, treating the plants and applying diatomaceous earth. This results in a positive shift, as the plants respond favourably to the light and no more moving insects or signs of damage are found. In week 8, the grower notices that the plants look a little smaller than expected at this stage, so they’re given an intensive nutrient solution, to which they respond well. Selective pruning is also performed to improve their structure. The light intensity is adjusted to 60% to optimise growth, hollowing out the centres and eliminating the lower third of growth… considering extending the vegetative phase to obtain massive yields.

Week 9 is relatively quiet. The grower moves one of the three grow tents to the basement due to electrical overload issues. As a result, the temperature in the grow room decreases significantly. The nutrients are also slightly reduced to avoid burning the tips of the leaves, although some are showing clawing signs. This will have to be monitored during week 10, so he plans to maintain the vegetative phase for another 3 weeks. In addition, moderate defoliation of the larger fan leaves is carried out to prevent the lower flowering shoots from being in the shade.

In week 11, the grower faces unexpected difficulties due to a big storm (the biggest in 40 years), which leads to intermittent energy loss. He also discovers a pH imbalance which affects calcium absorption. To tackle this, he flushes the roots with 12 litres of water per plant, adjusting the pH to 6.5 and adding a mild solution of nitrogen, B complex, and some CalMag in the last 4 litres. After this process, the plants look healthier, although he still expects them to be in optimum condition before shifting to the flowering period. In week 12, the grower describes his experience as a difficult journey due to several unexpected events, including energy cuts, storms, and challenges related to the water pH. But, despite these obstacles, the plants now look better than ever, so he decides that it’s the perfect time to switch to the flowering phase.

Grow parameters:

• Daily temperature: 24ºC
• Night temperature: 13ºC
• Hours of light: 12
• Air humidity: 35%
• Pot size: 5 gallons (about 20 litres)
• pH: 6,5
• Distance between lamp and plant: 35.56 cm

Flowering phase

In the first week of flowering, the new growth looks healthy, although a little lighter than desired in terms of colour; but the problems related to pH and calcium have finally been solved. The FC-6500 lamp is still working at 60%, but he intends to increase it after the plants shoot up. It is important to highlight the strength of the Kiss branches, which suggests that the plants won’t grow very high but are already prepared to produce a good yield. In week 14, he notices a strange sulphur smell after the last intense irrigation: “I think the pots might have become anaerobic… Or maybe the roots have rotted?… Eeek… I pray it is the former!”, says the grower. Within a few days, the smell completely disappears, but the signs of calcium blockage are returning: “Damaged root tips?… Or could the pH be dropping in the old substrate (Promix) because we’ve decided to stay in vegetative mode for a long time?… We’ll see what happens… This week we’ll replace our pH meters to get a better idea of what’s going on”.

Week 15 goes by without any setbacks (finally!). You can tell that some leaves have turned yellowish due to light stress, so the lamp is raised rather than adjusting the light intensity with the dimmer (the Mars lamp is now at 75% power). The cheese terpenes are already extraordinarily strong and will go absolutely crazy in a few more weeks! In week 16, the grower faces a yellowing problem on the larger plant, so the light is adjusted to 60%. Even so, the buds grow quickly. The third week of flowering seems advanced, as if it were the fifth week, which makes us reflect on the prolonged growth phase. The cheese aroma intensifies, creating positive expectations. Harvest time is about 4 – 5 weeks away.

In week 17, the grower makes further changes in the grow room. The plants look amazing. They rise proudly towards the light, and trichome density is excellent. A slight defoliation is carried out to focus more energy on the flowering colas, which have reached a highly compressed calyx stacking level. In week 18, the grower changes the irrigation to water only, so the plants are being flushed to eliminate any nutrients that may affect their flavour. The plants are coated with trichomes and look hazy. They emit a cheese and potting soil aroma that is totally mind-blowing. Amazingly, they’re entering their seventh week of flowering and seem almost ready, which is “absolutely bonkers”, in the words of the grower, who feels equally optimistic and surprised.

In week 19, the grower states that the plants have ripened very quickly and are almost ready. They’re covered with trichomes and, after changing the irrigation to water only for 2 weeks, their leaves are drying out and dying. The buds are quite dense, and 2 plants release a very distinctive cheese smell, whereas the third one (the shortest one) smells more like fresh potting soil and Skunk. The plants reach week 20 without a problem. These flowers are adorned with thick light orange pistils that melt against the resin background that covers them, with lots of glandular trichomes that also end up taking over much of the larger sugar leaves. No doubt he’ll get incredible extracts! The grower excitedly shares that harvest is scheduled for two days from now. The end is near!

Harvest

In preparation for harvest time, the branches are all kept attached to the main stem so that the whole plants can be hung after the wet manicuring. This way, it will be possible to obtain buds that look totally frosty, living up to her name, just like an incredibly pleasurable kiss. Kiss’s dry buds weigh a total of 188 grams. They’re very shiny and extremely sticky. Considering the 4 x 4 ft (1.2 m²) grow tent space, the ratio is 4.92 plants / m², with a light output of 1065.57 watts / m2.

The grower summarises his experience in the following terms: “This is a great strain, much better than I anticipated. Burping the jars is a pleasure for everyone LOL. We shouldn’t have kept the vegetative period going for so long; it wasn’t good for our pH. We could have obtained the same weight with fewer plants, so we won’t be doing that again… The high is pleasantly mild, like a warm hug but also with a bit of drowsiness… Using this strain after 5 pm is the best… There’s not a lot more to say, really… Truly a great strain by Kannabia!!”