Strain report

Moby Dick

Dinafem

by Grubbycup

Environment: Indoor Closet Grow Light: 400 MH Flower Light: 400 HPS Method: Passive Hydro Nutrient: Fox Farms Days in Growth: 42 Days in Flower: 59 Harvest Weight: 44 g wet, 13 g dry. Grams per Day: 0.129 Structure: Single cola Bud: Dense Scent: Mild spicy sweet Rating: 9 out of 10

Environment: Indoor Room Grow Light: 1000 MH Flower Light: 1000 MH Method: Passive Hydro Nutrient: Fox Farms Days in Growth: 35 Days in Flower: 36 Harvest Weight: 36 g wet, 12 g dry. Grams per Day: 0.169 Structure: Single cola Bud: Tight Scent: Mild spicy pepper Rating: 7 out of 10

Moby Dick, winner of the Soft Secrets Girl of the Year Award 2010, is one of Dinafem’s best known and most popular cultivars.

Dinafem sells its seeds packed in Eppendorf vials, with absorbent color changing silica beads to help ensure seed viability. Be careful of the printing of the cultivar on the label itself, which smudged easily when touched.

All the seeds were plump and healthy looking, and sprouted quickly in a domed seedling tray. The plants were grown in a small white plastic lined indoor closet (.75m x 1m x 2m).

For the growth phase, they were kept under a vented 400 watt MH light set to 18 hours on 6 hours off.

Once well sprouted in plugs (day 17), they were planted into labeled 12.7 cm square pots filled with perlite.

Perlite starts as a volcanic glass with water trapped inside. When exposed to high temperatures, the glass melts, and the water turns to steam which inflates and puffs the glass before escaping. The resulting material is light and airy, similar to a small heavy Styrofoam. The pots were set in a tray, and hand watered with a hydroponic nutrient solution. This type of passive hydroponic system is similar to using soil in pots, and is commonly used by both novices and experts. One advantage to using a hydroponic media over soil, is that the plant containers can be smaller. The plants remained in these pots for the entire grow. Perlite is difficult to overwater, and is forgiving of minor errors in watering. It can be used alone, as in this grow, or as part of a mixture. Another benefit of perlite is that it can be rinsed and reused repeatedly.

The Fox Farm line of nutrients were used, and no deficiencies developed. Moby Dick is a medium sized plant with very nice structure and regular opposite leaf pairs. All the plants from the same packet grew recognizably similar to each other. The leaves were fat and indica looking. The plants did not show much stretch.

Lighting was changed to HPS bulbs with a 12/12 regimen on day 42. Once they started to form, the flower clusters were very firm and tight. Flowering finished one day shy of five weeks. Dinafem only sells feminized seeds, so sexing was not an issue.

The Moby Dick was ready for harvest in 59 days, one day shy of the 60-70 day window given by Dinafem. Final plant height was 101 cm. Manicuring the buds was easy and fast. Dried buds are attractive and hold together well. While not a heavy producer, it is a respectable one. Buds were hung for three days, then into a closed plastic container to allow inner moisture to work out to the leaves. The container was opened at regular intervals to allow condensation to evaporate, and then the buds were enclosed a in jars to finish curing.

Moby Dick is a very nice offering from Dinafem, The Haze x White Widow heritage has given Moby Dick dense, tight, buds, and a strong effect when smoked. It is very mild when dried, and benefits well from a good cure, as the subtle flavors develop as they mature.

Mild spice aroma, with a nice mental stone, more psychoactive than most. When dried, the buds hold their integrity well. Moby is worth getting a hold of to try. Perfect for sitting around with a group of friends, relaxing and talking over snacks. I will defiantly make room to grow more of this next round.

Roadrunner 2

Dinafem

by Grubbycup

Roadrunner 2 is an improved version of the well known Roadrunner line. Dinafem sells its seeds neatly packed in eppendorf vials. The seeds I received were all plump and healthy looking, and sprouted quickly in starter plugs. Since I did not want to delay growth by transplant shock, I planted the plugs directly into their final containers.

Roadrunner 2 has the autoflowering trait, which causes the plants to flower even when not exposed to a long dark period to trigger the effect. There is no need to alter the lighting from the growth part of the cycle during flowering. This can be helpful for growing outdoors out of season, using indoor lighting without a timer, or a way to grow some smoke in a vegging room.

But be careful and do not waste any time during growth, since if they haven’t grown to fair size during veg, flowering will be disappointing. It isn’t difficult, but you can’t let them go an extra week or two before flowering if they are a bit small like you can with non-autoflowering plants so there is less margin for error in a slow start. However, for a fast path to some very smokable weed with a minimum of fuss, it’s worth taking a look at trying. The good news is that Roadrunner 2 is an easy cultivar to grow, so I didn’t have any trouble getting them up to size before they started to flower.

The plants were grown in perlite, and used the Fox Farm line of nutrients. Pots were placed in trays and watered by hand.

Roadrunner 2 grows thick stems, with regular form, and a natural tendency for a single large cola.

The first flower appeared at 35 days. The buds were firm and tight, with a nice regular structure. Both growth and flowering were done under a 1000 watt metal halide bulb.

Finished height was 102 cm. Dinafem claims 65-75 days from seed to harvest, my sample took 71 days. It is the fastest autoflowering cultivar I’ve grown so far. Well suited for an impatient grower. out the unpleasant flavor some of the older cultivars with the autoflowering trait have. Smoking it gives a mellow high, with a nice balance between “up” and “couch”.

Dinafem’s seeds are feminized, so there is no worry about having to sex the plants. Overall, a nice experience and a worthwhile grow.