Sugar Candy Grow Report: My First Gram-Per-Watt Experience

I chose Delicious Seeds’ Sugar Candy weed strain for my second grow because my first harvest had been a complete let-down and I wanted something really scale-busting for a change. And these seeds didn’t disappoint. For all those less-than-perfect growing conditions, a weak light, and rookie mistakes that I’m sure I’ve made, these plants rewarded me with a more bountiful harvest than I could ever hope for.

An Explosive 5 Week Veg

Right out of the gate, my 4 seedlings were vigorous and fast. They varied in size a bit, but had only one phenotype - with broad and roundish, almost pure Indica leaves. They spent their first two weeks in 1L pots with a soil/perlite mix, and, on week 3, I transplanted them into 11.4L (3 gallon) airpots. The re-potting didn’t slow them down, and I even began to think about cutting the top half of the tallest Sugar Candy, but then decided to simply cut the veg short and switch to flowering. Which I did after five weeks from seeds.

Sugar Candy Vegetative Stage Conditions

All the while, I tried to keep the conditions at a comfortable level, but my best efforts didn’t get me far I’m afraid. I started with air humidity at 65%, but it quickly went up to 75% and stayed there till harvest.

Day temps were initially at 26°C (79°F), for the first two weeks from seeds, but then they began their steady climb down: a degree or two lower every week. Night temperatures also started high — at 23°C (73°F), then dropped to 19°C (66°F) for the rest of the veg, and still lower as it got colder outside.

Sugar Candy Grow Report: Flowering Time Begins

At the same time that I changed the light schedule to 12/12, I also performed a radical defoliation, removing every single fan leaf that was growing from the main stalk. The only leaves that were left on the plants were those growing on side branches. I didn’t prune any side branches though, even the ones at the very bottom, but I bent and secured them with strings for the sake of better light penetration.

The day temperature was now down to 22°C (72°F), but it was okay since cannabis plants don’t generally mind cooler temps once they begin to bloom.

Though the defoliation was quite brutal, my Sugar Candy girls bounced back like nothing, and by the third week of flowering my grow tent looked like a rainforest again. I could see white pistils sticking out on every flowering top.

Another Round Of High Stress Defoliation

It was week 4 of flowering when I showed my girls again what tough love means. This time, I cut off 174g worth of leaves and was afraid the plants would never really recover. Still, I hoped they would.

Thanks to unbelievably strong genetics, Sugar Candy by Sweet Seeds took all this abuse like a champ. Only this time the plants directed most of their energy to flowers and much less — to the growing of new leaves, so I never got the impenetrable jungle-like canopy as before. I also regret to say that my 250W light turned out to be kinda weak for the flower period.

Anyway, the buds were developing, and quite nicely, too. Some of the tops looked furry with all those trichomes, and by the seventh week of flower I saw a lot of amber pistils. There was also quite a smell, too.

Now it was the beginning of winter, and the temperature dropped again — to 20°C (68°F) during the day and 17°C (63°F) at night. Unbelievably, I would see another 2 degree drop by the time buds were ready to harvest, but Sugar Candy would handle even that.

Cold And Humid Air Takes Its Toll

I chopped my 4 Sugar Candy plants after 8 weeks in flower. Unfortunately, too cool day and night temps led to problems with mold: about a half of the main cola on the biggest of my girls was completely destroyed by it. I was also surprised to find a single seed when I was manicuring the buds. Probably, there was a male banana there somewhere due to stress.

The Nutrients I Used For Growing Sugar Candy

Throughout this grow, I was using a relatively unknown line of nutrients called Herba which I supplemented by Hesi’s Supervit to boost the plants’ vigor. I kept TDS at 850 ppm at the end of veg and in the first week of flower, then bumped this to 950 ppm for week 2 and 3, and finally to 1000 ppm right up to the final flush. Since I was using a soil mix (which is prone to a lot of salt build-up), I decided to give my girls a long flush — the whole two weeks of nothing but clean water.

Final Thoughts On Sugar Candy Seeds

For me these plants were very easy-to-grow. They have strong, stable genetics, develop quite fast, and don’t require much care. If you want to experiment with various HST techniques, Sugar Candy seems to be able to tolerate almost anything. With my 250W light, I got 267g of dry buds which is more than 1 gram/W. The smoke felt quite strong (they say it’s 25% THC), and it was a long lasting high, all in the head, with no stoned body feelings, and it rather creeps on you, unlike other strains I’ve tried. I also liked the smooth and full-flavored taste. As for the THC content, I understand that it does depend on the skills and growing conditions which means there’s enough room for improvement. So for a start, buy a powerful light for your indoor garden, and you’ll harvest pounds of top-quality stuff.

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