Strawberry Gorilla Auto Grow Diary and Strain Review

This run was my first time growing Strawberry Gorilla Auto from Fast Buds. I had other plants in the same tent, but this one ended up being the most interesting of the group, mostly because it started rough and then came back much harder than I expected.

The setup was a Mars Hydro 120x120x200cm (47.2x47.2x78.7in) tent with a Mars Hydro FC4800 at 480W. I ran the plant in coco, in an 11l (2.9gal) fabric pot, with a non-recirculating drip system and drain-to-waste runoff.

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28.4% THC

Strawberry Gorilla Auto (Fast Buds)

• Autoflowering
• 450 - 600 g/m² indoors
  60 - 300 g/plant outdoors
• Happiness intoxication

Pack (number of seeds)

1

3

5

10

£11.27 £32.3 33.82 Save 1.52 £49.9 56.36 Save 6.46 £91.99 112.72 Save 20.73

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Starting the Run

Week 1

Germination was simple: wet paper towels and a ziplock bag. After a couple of days, the seeds had roots about 1cm (0.4in) long and went into their pots.

Before planting, I rinsed and buffered the coco. Once the seedling was up, the room ran on 18/6, with the light 45cm (17.7in) above the plant. Day temperature stayed around 24°C (75.2°F), nights were closer to 17°C (62.6°F), and humidity was near 60%.

The drip system gave 250ml (8.5fl oz) of solution 3 times a day, just enough to keep the coco evenly moist. One cotyledon was damaged early, though, and that set Strawberry Gorilla behind the rest of the tent right away.

Week 2

The second week didn’t look very encouraging. The seedling was clearly smaller than the others, and there was some odd pigmentation on the leaves. I thought about the slow start, but I didn’t want to give up on the plant yet.

The room conditions stayed the same, while the feed was adjusted and raised to 600ppm. The mix included pH Perfect Sensi Coco Grow A and B at 2ml/l, B-52 at 2ml/l, CANNA RHIZOTONIC at 2ml/l, CANNAZYM at 2.5ml/l, CalMag Agent at 1ml/l, and Liquid Silicon at 1ml/l.

Week 3

By the third week, Strawberry Gorilla still lagged behind, but it no longer looked hopeless. The leaf issues had stopped spreading, which told me the roots were probably starting to handle the feed better.

The plant was about 10cm (3.9in) tall. I kept the room unchanged and pushed the solution to 800ppm, with pH Perfect Sensi Coco Grow A and B at 3ml/l while the rest of the support products stayed in the mix.

Veg Progress and Training

Week 4

On day 24, I decided to top her. That might sound a little risky for an auto that had already had a rough start, but she looked healthy enough by then. Some old marks were still visible on the lower leaves, but the plant itself seemed stable.

The gap between this plant and the others was no longer as dramatic, so I cut the main top and let her recover. I didn’t change the environment or the feed this week.

Week 5

The topping didn’t stop her. New growth came in well, and the plant started looking less like the weak seedling from the first couple of weeks.

I kept watching the structure closely because she wasn’t developing in the neatest way. The growth pattern already felt a little unusual, but at this point it wasn’t a real problem.

Week 6

By week 6, the plant had reached 40cm (15.7in) and looked ready to start flowering. The room stayed on 18/6, with the light still 45cm (17.7in) away. Day temperature was around 26°C (78.8°F), nights stayed near 17°C (62.6°F), and humidity was about 60%.

The feed moved toward bloom and rose to 900ppm. I switched to pH Perfect Sensi Coco Bloom A and B at 3ml/l, then added lower doses of CANNA RHIZOTONIC, CANNAZYM, CalMag Agent, Liquid Silicon, Bud Candy, B-52, Big Bud, and Nirvana.

The Flip and Early Flower

Week 7

Flowering started with a strong vertical push. During week 7, Strawberry Gorilla stretched by about 20cm (7.9in), but she still didn’t really want to grow wide.

I removed a lot of foliage. The bush looked strange afterward, but not unhealthy. The main inconvenience was the dense, tangled structure, so I had to keep separating branches and leaves by hand to stop the middle from turning into a mess.

Week 8

By week 8, the plant had almost caught up with the rest of the tent. That was a nice change after the slow beginning, even if the shape still looked odd.

The structure stayed very vertical, and the canopy needed regular attention. I didn’t treat that as a failure, just as part of this plant’s character in my room.

Week 9-10

The flowering sites were developing properly now, and the plant finally looked like it had a real chance to finish well. The early damage was still part of the story, but it no longer defined the whole grow.

I kept the feeding steady and focused more on keeping the canopy workable than trying to force a perfect shape. With this plant, chasing perfect symmetry would have been a waste of time.

Late Flower and Finish

Week 11-12

Late flower showed why I wanted to try this strain in the first place. The buds and sugar leaves were coated heavily enough that Strawberry Gorilla looked like the stickiest plant in the tent.

I adjusted the bloom mix but kept it around 1000ppm. The updated solution included pH Perfect Sensi Coco Bloom A and B at 2.5ml/l, CANNAZYM at 2ml/l, CalMag Agent at 1ml/l, Liquid Silicon at 1ml/l, Bud Candy at 1.5ml/l, B-52 at 1.5ml/l, Big Bud at 1ml/l, Nirvana at 1.5ml/l, and CANNA PK 13/14 at 1.5ml/l.

By week 12, some leaves showed burn from too much feed, even in coco. Strawberry Gorilla suffered less than the others in the tent, and the grow was already close to the end, so I didn’t see it as a big setback. I also stopped adding CANNA RHIZOTONIC, Big Bud, and CANNA PK 13/14.

Week 13

The final week was all about flushing. The plant received 3l (0.8gal) of water per day with Final Flush at 2ml/l, mainly to clear out built-up salts before harvest.

There didn’t seem to be much reason to keep her standing longer. The plant looked mature, and the trichomes backed that up, so I moved on to harvest.

Strawberry Gorilla Auto Yield and Final Thoughts

This was a curious grow. Strawberry Gorilla Auto started with a damaged cotyledon, grew into a weirdly vertical bush, and never had the most normal leaf structure. I still can’t say whether that came from the early injury or from the plant itself.

What matters is that she caught up in flower and turned into a productive plant with plenty of bud sites. I dried her whole, hanging the plant upside down by the root. Drying took 1 week, then trimming and checking the flowers took longer than usual.

The final dry yield was 215g (7.6oz) from one Strawberry Gorilla Auto plant. I honestly wasn’t expecting anything close to that after the slow start.

The finished flower didn’t scream strawberry to me, but it was clearly berry-like, with a light fruity sourness behind it. The effect was interesting too. Depending on mood, it could make me want to get up and do something, or it could just drop me onto the couch in a quiet, lazy state. One detail I really noticed: it made my eyes redder than most strains I’ve smoked.

I’m happy with this run. I’d grow Strawberry Gorilla Auto again, partly because I want to see whether the strange structure was just this plant or something I should expect from the genetics.

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