News Joint Grow Journal 2.0: Five Signature Strains is back to spotlight the fifth strain: Strawberry Cough by Kyle Kushman at Homegrown Cannabis Co.

As mentioned in my first grow, I am a bit of a fanboy of Kushman’s growing techniques and overall approach to cultivating homegrown cannabis. So for the theme of Five Signature Strains, I had to run Kushman’s most well-known strain: Strawberry Cough.

Strawberry Cough is a mostly sativa cross of Haze and an unknown strain and was only available as a clone until Kushman recently propagated feminized seeds that are available here at Homegrown Cannabis Co. The strain delivers THC levels of 15–20% or slightly higher in optimum growing conditions. Flowering time is expected to take 10-11 weeks.

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I hope the peaceful, happy, creative, energetic, and smooth cerebral buzz will fit right into my day Work Sativa. I am also a fan of sweet fruit and berry flavors with back notes of skunk and earthy spice.

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As mentioned in the first few journal entries, my PH balance for a gallon of water I premade unexpectedly raised back to my water’s normal PH of 7.6. My mistake hit the Strawberry Cough hard. I watered the plant three times with the premade water. This was after I had overwatered it as a seedling. So the plant had a rough start.

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The Strawberry Cough turned light green and lost a few tiny middle branches. As I’d been learning more and more with each day of growing, I had to adjust my growing techniques to the needs of each plant and my grow space.

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From day one, the Strawberry Cough grew in what I can only describe as a spiraling corkscrew motion, which made it more difficult to low stress strain. The plant grew shorter and bushier than the other four plants in the tent. Even after I topped the taller plants, the Strawberry Cough was shorter, so I did not top her. Instead, I used the “Kushman chiropractics” technique and snapped the trunk and each branch, which the plant responded to well to.

However, random leaves on the Strawberry Cough kept browning in a way I had not seen before. They developed reddish-brown spots on otherwise healthy green leaves. The locations of the reddish-brown leaves on the plant were spread throughout with no obvious patter.

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While feeding, I doubled and triple checked the nutrients and PH balance. The Strawberry Cough had solid roots and thrived after transplanting. The other plants in the tent had completely recovered with healthy green leaves.

Still, random Strawberry Cough leaves would take on the same reddish-brown color and pattern. The plant, otherwise, grew healthy. So I chalked it up to a genetic trait. Even the sprout had a similar color on it.

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Overall, I’ve had to prune a few leaves and rotate the plant for best light coverage, but other than that, I’ve just let the Strawberry Cough do her thing, and I’m please with my lack of helicopter parenting, which, I believe, hurt my first grow.

The next News Joint Grow Journal (26) will return to the first Signature Strain (Tenzin Kush #4 x Hazy Kush by Green Bodhi), and then I’ll rotate back through all five strains and document the vegetative and flowering stages of each plant.

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