Grow Report – Dream Sherbet Auto

If you’re looking for a perfect and well-balanced autoflowering hybrid, Kannabia’s Dream Sherbet Auto is crying out to meet you. This is one of our ‘Made in USA’ strains that will help fuel your obsession with the new American genetics. In this grow report, she offers an opportunity to float in a cloud over a sea of possibilities, taking you on holiday to your own grow room in a way that will make you a fan of hers with just one look.

Dream Sherbet Auto is one of the most sought-after strains from our ‘Made in USA’ seed collection. In a very short time, this variety has earned the heart of the most select growers thanks to her amazing traits, inherited from her ancestor Dream Sherbet (one of the most famous indicas of our catalogue born from the cross of Girl Scout Cookies x Pink Panties). After her journey through ruderalis lands, she’s acquired her non-photo-dependent lineage for the pleasure of those who need high yields with minimal effort and in very little time.

Dream Sherbet Auto’s dreamy buds are hard and compact, with a hairy layer of orange pistils and bright trichomes which emit an incredible aroma and flavour: a deeply fruity scent but with mild and sweet nuances… with an earthy touch that’s intensified by remarkable notes of melon and mango. If you’ve never been captivated by a strain’s aroma, this could be the one to steal your heart once and for all.

In addition, she’s quite potent in terms of THC, which tends to be around 20%. Even so, the high she produces is quite mild, with a soothing effect on the body and a pleasant mental stimulation which can easily provoke attacks of laughter. With such a spot-on name, Dream Sherbet Auto sends users to a relaxing and happy place that makes them feel free and creative, without being too out of it. And she’s also strong enough to alleviate nausea and pain but without leaving you feeling useless, which makes her a very popular choice amongst medical cannabis users. This is the Jack of all trades, so to speak.

Dream Sherbet Auto’s morphology and growth pattern

Given her indica dominance, this strain grows into a dense bush of medium height, with dark green leaves and long leaflets. Her buds are tight, and both leaves and flowers take on light purple hues as the plant matures.

Although she loves light and heat, growers from northern Europe will discover that they can successfully grow Dream Sherbet Auto outdoors, as long as she’s grown in a protected area with plenty of sunlight. Plants develop better in soils enriched with compost; and with her life cycle of just 75 days, she can produce interesting outdoor yields of 200 g/plant (depending on the phenotype and growing conditions). Indoors, she can deliver up to 500 g/m² of highly resinous buds, as you’ll be able to see for yourself in the grow report below.

Dream Sherbet Auto’s step-by-step grow guide

• Grow type: Indoor
• Lighting: [VEG] 300W LED Mars Hydro/ [FLO] 100W LED ViparSpectra
• Grower: gottagrowsometime
• Number of plants: 1
• Nutrients: Green House Feeding
• Irrigation: Manual
• Growing medium: BioBizz Light Mix / All Mix
• Vegetative phase: 4 weeks
• Flowering phase: 8 weeks

Germination phase

The grower starts by putting the seeds in a glass of water for 24 hours before moving them to a damp piece of cotton wool, where the radicle is born after 14 hours. It is then that the seed is transferred to an 11-litre pot with a mixture of Biobizz Light Mix and Biobizz All Mix (60/40). No nutrients are added for at least the first two weeks. The plant is placed under a Mars Hydro FC 3000 lamp, and the grower intends to also use a ViparSpectra P1000 lamp (100W) during the flowering. The following parameters are established as a starting point:

Grow parameters:

• Daily temperature: 25ºC
• Height: 0 – 15 cm
• Substrate temperature: 21ºC
• Night temperature: 23ºC
• Hours of light: 20
• Air humidity: 75%
• Total dissolved solids: 110 ppm / 0.22 EC
• Irrigation volume: 0.3 L per plant per 24 hrs
• pH: 6.7
• Distance between lamp and plant: 45 cm

Seedling / vegetative phase

In the first week, and after only 24 hours, the seedling has sprouted and is growing well. You can already see the cotyledons sticking out of the substrate. There’s massive growth during the two following days, and the seedling changes dramatically overnight from day 7. The grower doesn’t need to use nutrients for the time being but will add light nutrients in approximately 10 days, depending on how the seedling grows.

During the second week (especially between days 8 and 10), the seedling experiences incredible growth; “the best growth up to this point of any strain that I’ve ever grown”, states the grower. The seedling has endured the low relative humidity levels and high temperatures (of up to 29ºC). The grower starts adding a light nutrient solution (1.05 ml/L) of Epsom salts, Bio-pH, and chelated calcium (an additive to be used when the amount of calcium in the water is below the recommended values).

In the third week, the plant is doing well, but growth has slowed down a little. The grower cuts down 2 large fan leaves to enable the light to reach the lower nodes, which were already blocked from the light. He uses the two sets of lower nodes to start shaping the plant by applying the Low Stress Training technique. The plant responds well, showing no problems, and the enhanced light penetration promotes the emergence of new growth shoots.

Grow parameters:

• Daily temperature: 28ºC
• Height: 15 – 35 cm
• Substrate temperature: 21ºC
• Night temperature: 24ºC
• Hours of light: 19
• Air humidity: 60%
• Total dissolved solids: 510 ppm / 1.02 EC
• Irrigation volume: 0.3 L per plant per 24 hrs
• pH: 6.5
• Distance between lamp and plant: 30 cm

Flowering phase

In the fourth week, the plant keeps growing at a constant pace, but the grower spots mosquitoes on the substrate. Therefore, he lets the soil dry up and inserts yellow control strips whilst feeding the plant through the bottom by means of a drip tray. The plant is at the preflowering stage, so he starts watering with Green House high PK booster. Light intensity is at 100% at a distance of 30 cm. The plant is happy, so he decides not to apply any more LST.

In week 5, the plant is enjoying what she’s getting from the grower. He doesn’t touch the LST but removes some large leaves because there’s not a lot to defoliate. The plant is now 45 cm high and has a beautiful shape, with lots of flowering buds which release a captivating aroma. She grows 10 cm in 3-4 days, without stretching in excess. She’s in the perfect normal range. It is best for the lighting to be switched off during the day and switched on at night, when it’s colder (especially during the preflowering phase).

In week 6, the plant reaches a height of 65 cm. She is now in the last flowering stage prior to ripening, so the buds are expected to fatten nicely. The grower will defoliate more thoroughly in a couple of days, removing 1/5^th of the fan leaves so the buds are more exposed. Given that the price of electricity is through the roof, in the end he decides not to add the P1000 lamp. It simply isn’t an option for him just to achieve a slightly higher yield.

Grow parameters:

• Daily temperature: 25ºC
• Height: 35 – 56 cm
• Substrate temperature: 21ºC
• Night temperature: 21ºC
• Hours of light: 18
• Air humidity: 60%
• Total dissolved solids: 510 ppm / 1.02 EC
• Irrigation volume: 0.3 L per plant per 24 hrs
• pH: 6.5
• Distance between lamp and plant: 30 cm

Ripening stage

In week seven, the plant stops growing once she’s reached a height of 65 cm. The buds are slowly gaining weight and becoming more compact, so the grower starts moving the position of the nodes so that the light reaches the plant at all angles every 24 hours. He keeps a light nutrition regime, but he realises that the leaves are turning a very light shade of green. To compensate for this, he adds more NPK. This results in the tips of the leaflets getting slightly burnt. You can see great long colas. “I’m really happy with this strain”, says the grower.

It’s week 8 and the plant keeps getting plumper, without showing signs of needing anything else. There are lots of stunning thick and dense buds which emit an extremely sweet scent with citrusy and musky undertones. Their overall structure expands in spectacular fashion, producing huge amounts of trichomes. For the time being, the weight of the buds doesn’t call for the use of stakes or trellising nets since the branches have enough strength to hold themselves up thanks to the earlier application of Low Stress Training.

In week 9, the plant is happily reaching the optimum point of maturation, but the colas are still gaining weight. She’s starting to show signs of the natural discolouration of the leaves, which indicates that she’s reaching old age. The musky smell has turned deeper (“I’m dying to try this stunner”), and the flowers exhibit masses of trichomes which cover the foliage with incredible colours. The grower decides to harvest when 10% of the trichome heads are transparent, 80% are milky, and 10% amber. This combination indicates maximum maturity and marks the time to start with the drying / curing process.

Harvest

After the wet trimming, Dream Sherbet Auto has a total weight of 295 grams of green buds per plant (i.e. 68 grams of dry buds). With the 100W LED lamp used, the ratio is 2.95 grams/watt. She’s been grown in a 0.49 m² grow tent, so the final yield is estimated at 602.04 grams/m².

According to the grower, “the buds have grown nice and big, densely grouped together, with long and thick trichomes and lots of pistils running through them. They have a sweet and earthy musky smell… and you get a touch of melon and other sweets when you grind them, which balances out the earthy flavour and produces a super tasty smoke”. The buds have been curing for around one week, and the melon smell is much stronger now. “There are also other fruits which I’m sure will release their abundance after another curing sesh”, he concludes.

As you can see, this plant has been particularly easy to grow and has shown great resistance to parasites. She has grown virtually autonomously, producing first-class buds worthy of sale at any US dispensary. If you’re looking for a ‘Made in USA’ cannabis strain that can really convince you of the powers of the new Cali genetics, then Dream Sherbet Auto by Kannabia is certainly the perfect candidate for the job.