*Growing Eleven Roses*
In this article we’ll be monitoring the new work of Delicious Seeds, the Eleven Roses marihuana strain. Its genetics are the result of crossing Sugar Black Rose and Appalachian Kush. The result is a mainly Indica strain and only needs 55 days’ flowering time.
In this post we’ll see that the resulting genetic is a strain with a large central column topped with a big sticky bud. In many cases some of its leaves display different shades of the colour purple.
Eleven Roses will delight us with concentrations of nearly 24% THC and, when smoked, will produce a deep, long-lasting effect that is rather narcotic and relaxing. Its taste is like Kush, with metallic notes, against a moist, fruity background; without doubt an explosion of flavours and aromas that we’re really going to enjoy.
*Eleven Roses Growth*
We set about growing 20 Eleven Roses seeds in a 2 square metre growroom under 2 600W HPS lamps in Light Mix substrate and a complete range of organic nutrients and additives.
Germination is done in 0.25 litre pots and after 24 hours they had all popped with a 100% germination rate. The first 10 days they are only given a root stimulator. After that, we transplant them to 4 litre pots and add a growth feed to their water every 3 or 4 days.
The plants seem very strong without any apparent defects of any kind. Humidity levels are 70% and the temperature during this phase varies between 24-25 degrees Celsius.
After 21 days we transplant all the plants, which had been in 4L pots, to 9L and 11L pots.
During the growth phase we lower humidity to 60% and keep the temperature constant at between 21-24ºC.
As the weeks pass we gradually increase growth feed levels, watering every 3-4 days (as required). As the plants begin to need more water and before switching them to the 12/12 phase, we water them every 2 days, adding feed every other day.
*Eleven Roses Flowering*
At the pre-flowering stage, we switch to 12/12 and swap growth feed for flowering. As the plants begin to demand more nutrients, we feed them every 2-3 days. After two weeks flowering, we introduce an organic flowering booster and begin to see the formation of the first flowers. The aroma begins to fill the growroom.
The plants undergo a tremendous growth spurt as soon as they start to flower and the first flowers begin to appear.
From the start of the second week, the plants stop growing upwards and dedicate all their energy to creating new flowers and producing resin.
The intense odour now starts to overwhelm us; the plant is getting fat very quickly and without any defects!
A week later, the plants have grown quite a lot. They start to shed some old leaves while the buds continue to fatten up non-stop.
We start to lower humidity to a minimum of 40% on the day we harvest. We do the same with the temperature, lowering it gradually to reach 19-20ºC.
The next few weeks they produce resin at an exaggerated rate and it starts to cover the leaves nearest to the bud.
At the end of August and after 5.5 weeks’ flowering, the plants display spectacular levels of resin production, which require the use of good carbon filters and odour neutralisers to deal with the very intense odour. We didn’t expect such an incredible aroma of earth with metallic notes, which is sometimes so strong it can be irritating like a spice such as clove or black pepper.
At this stage we set about cleaning up the roots. In a couple of weeks they’ll be ready to cut.
*Growing Eleven Roses - Conclusions*
The final result is spectacular, with compact, bush-like plants that don’t grow very tall but which have lots of buds on all sides. It is an ideal strain for apex pruning as it branches out very well and this will increase the yield.
Similarly, it’s a very quick strain as we had buds ready for cropping after 56 days’ flowering. It’s also a strain that thrives at low temperatures (which was one of the issues that created most work for us), thus resulting in a more productive flowering phase.
The dense resinous buds are like the morphology of the plant itself: compact and robust and filled with a crystalline resin that turns amber as the days go by. Its branches are covered in buds, which are smaller than the main ones but very similar with respect to their density and resin levels.
We’ve been able to observe different phenotypes, one is closer to Sugar Black Rose and the other to the Kush strain we used, but with the same characteristics described above that give it that special touch that intoxicated us so much.
It has an extremely intense earthy aroma with metallic tones.
As we have already mentioned, the use of active carbon filters is essential.
After 20 days’ drying and another 15 days’ curing, we try the sample achieved… the result is impressive, the first toke fills our mouths in an extraordinary way, we can recognise the taste of wood but with a hint of a tropical fruit such as mango that intoxicates us when we try it for the first time: it’s a spicy flavour but fruity at the same time, a combination of such diverse flavours that they flow in harmony and in the perfect order.
