Acapulco Gold Grow Journal: My Favorite Barney’s Farm Grow Yet

Hi! Welcome to my Acapulco Gold grow journal, in which I’ll describe my latest ScrOG grow that brought me a little over 8.5 ounces (243 g) from just one of two plants in my 3x3 grow tent. Although this Acapulco Gold (Barney’s Farm) grow took a little longer than planned, I have no regrets because the harvest wasn’t only big but also of amazing quality.

Acapulco Gold Grow Diary: The Vegetative Stage

There was nothing really remarkable about the germination and the seedling stages of my Acapulco Gold grow. I’ll just point out that the plant had a delightful mutation where there were not two but three leaves at each node. The girl looked beautiful and symmetrical, but I had my doubts about how this would play out in ScrOG.

At about the end of the first month from seed, I topped her and was thrilled to see three new equal-sized shoots growing from the top. I kept her in a 1-gallon (3.8 l) grow bag along with another strain under a Platinum Grow Lights P4-XML2 LED that drew 232W from the socket. It was probably too much light, as the leaves showed some yellowing and both girls stayed maybe too compact. However, that was what I wanted since I needed a low profile for ScrOG anyway.

Another thing that could’ve affected the growth rate was the low day temperatures – 73°F (23°C). A few degrees warmer would’ve worked much better during early veg. As for the relative humidity, it was close to ideal at 60%.

In week 6, I transplanted my babies into final 7-gallon (26.5 l) fabric pots filled with a mix of potting soil and perlite. This was enough medium to give the plants basic nutrients for the time being, so I was only giving them a Cal-Mag supplement and two inoculants – URB Organic and Mammoth P. These two are not fertilizers per se, but they colonize the root zone with beneficial microbial life to ensure the success of organic growth.

I then started adding sugarcane molasses to feed the little critters feeding my plants while saving the real plant food for later.

The Training

I started to LST my Acapulco Gold in week 7 by bending and tying down the main stem, and I did the second topping almost immediately to make her bush out even more. She responded well, never slowing down but staying perfectly short and flat.

In week 10, I installed the screen right at the canopy level. For the remainder of veg and until the first week of 12/12, I would tuck in every shoot that tried to rear its head above the mesh. It took my Acapulco Gold about 4 weeks to fill almost 100% of the ScrOG. Besides tucking and spreading, I did some light pruning in week 11 by thinning the growth below the canopy, which didn’t receive any light anyway.

Acapulco Gold Flowering Time

It took my Acapulco Gold plant 11 weeks to mature from the day I switched her to 12/12. Due to the heat issues during flower, there was some foxtailing in the later stages, with new pistils popping up until the harvest and the trichomes staying clear. I believe that under normal temperatures, the flowering time would’ve likely been shorter.

The budding started within a week of 12/12 and saw a very moderate stretch. The tops raised just several inches above the screen and then stopped. I decided to install two more lights – Platinum Grow Lights P150 – each consuming 87 watts but giving off an equivalent of a 250W HPS. These lights have a full spectrum ranging from UV to infrared (all very much needed for bulking up the buds and making them more frosty). However, my goal was to give enough lumens to the edges of the canopy, and for that purpose, the LEDs worked just fine.

A Rich Diet

I only started to feed my Acapulco Gold in earnest in week 8 from seed by introducing GHE FloraNova (the Grow part). I used it ‘til halfway into flowering, and since it’s a formula rich in nitrogen (N) and thus more suitable for vegetative growth, I later extended it by using other products that were heavy on phosphorus (P) and potassium (K). My philosophy is to not have two distinctive sets of nutrients – one for veg and one for flower – but to gradually add more and more supplements as I go along.

However, since this is meant to be a kind of an Acapulco Gold grow guide, I must warn newbies that such an approach is potentially dangerous. It’s safer to keep your cannabis lean and hungry than overfeed it.

Anyway, I tried several products that cater to the needs of flowering weed:

• Terpinator, which is supposed to facilitate terpene production and is rich in K.
• Bud Candy, full of natural stimulants extracted from cranberries and grapes.
• Liquid KoolBloom, with its extra amounts of P and K.

It was only in week 20 from seed (or week 7 of flowering) that I finally stopped with the FloraNova Grow. Since I had run out of the Bloom component of this line, I bought a totally different set of nutrients by Emerald Harvest – the two-part Cali Pro Bloom, King Cola, Honey Chome, and Emerald Goddess. They worked great, and I had the pleasure of watching my Acapulco Gold grow huge, dense, and resinous flowers.

A Few Issues

The later stage of flowering had me worried, as I was waiting for the trichomes to change from clear to cloudy, but somehow, they didn’t. I even saw some amber in my microscope but no cloudy ones. Moreover, many buds kept producing new white pistils right ‘til the end. Looking back now, I think it was the temps to blame. For the best results, it should be warmer in the seedling stage and veg and cooler in flowering – in my case, it was the opposite.

The high temps before the harvest led to some foxtailing, kept the trichs from maturing, and made some of the fan leaves dry and crisp. Even so, they didn’t prevent the flowers from turning magnificent – large, tight, and heavy. I gave them only a very short flush after 11 weeks of flowering and proceeded to deal with my gorgeous Acapulco Gold yield.

Acapulco Gold from Barney's Farm

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Acapulco Gold Grow Journal: The Harvest

The buds I harvested in this indoor grow filled nine mason jars, and the smell was superb – pungent and woody. The earthy flavor of the smoke was also amazing, and the effects of Acapulco Gold are perfect for daytime smoking. This herb filled me with energy, euphoria, and happiness after just two tokes. These are truly outstanding genetics, and I recommend this weed strain to anyone. I hope you enjoyed this review and found some useful grow tips in it. I wish you the best of luck!

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