Auto Orange Bud grow diary under 350W test LEDs

Auto Orange Bud grow review, delicious citrus scents with a blindingly powerful high and great feel-good effects.

Auto Orange Bud is the autoflowering version of the legendary cannabis cup winning Orange Bud. The is an easy to grow member of the Orange Family of cannabis seeds. You can expect THC levels around (and maybe above) 20% in optimised conditions making this one of the most consistently potent autoflower strains currently available.

Yields are high and many repeat Auto Orange Bud growers feel that she offers the best all-round package of ease-of-growth, yield, flavour and taste with remarkably consistent potency across all the phenotypes. If you’re unsure about the choice of your next autoflower seeds then Auto Orange Bud is a premium quality strain which is so good that it has earned a place in Dutch Passion’s exclusive High THC Cannabis Seed Collection, home to only the very finest cannabis seeds.

In this review, Sticky Green of the Urban Growers Collective grew Auto Orange Bud seeds organically in a blend of light-mix soil with added coco fibre under LED grow lights in airpot grow containers.

Grow Details

Variety	Auto Orange Bud
Cannabis seed type	Autoflowering cannabis seeds
Number of seeds	7
Date of germination	Summer 2017
Germination rate	100%
Days required for germination	3-4 days
Length of grow cycle (20/4 light schedule)	11 weeks from autoflower seed to harvest
Stretch during bloom	Strong growers, medium-to-large sized autoflowers

Basic Grow Information

Grow room type	Grow tent
Grow room size	120cm x 90 cm
Plant numbers	5 plants
Plant containers	1 in a big airpot of 30L, the other 4 in 20L Airpots
Grow medium	Light mix soil:Coco fibre in a 4:1 ratio
Nutrients	Organic, Biotabs & BAC
Grow system	Watered by hand – soil/coco grow
Grow technique	Natural grow
Grow light	LED grow light – 350W LED test grow light from Chinese grow light company
Light distance to canopy	Around 50-75cm

Auto Orange Bud seeds germinated and prepared for indoor growing

Remarks during germination :

7 seeds were used for germination, with a 100% germination rate. All 7 of them were germinated with the cotton-pad germination technique and were then transferred into 0.25L containers for the first 2 weeks. During these 2 weeks the young plants were grown under a 75w LED module, the HS1 from Dutch Passion/Grow Northern.

Related:
Best method to germinate cannabis seeds, moist cotton pads

Remarks during vegetative phase – VEG (20/4) :

After 2 weeks, the best 5 looking ladies were selected and transported to a different grow room where some bigger airpots were waiting for them. There were 5 pots in total, 4 Airpots of 20L and 1 bigger Airpot in the middle of 30L. All these pots were filled with the nutrient line of Biotabs. These dry nutrients can easily be mixed into the soil, and you don’t have to do much besides giving them plain water. We also use some extra liquid nutrients of BAC only if they plants needed it. Some plants like a lot of nutrients so this way we can give them extra growth and bloom nutrients just in case they are hungry.

Related:
Cannabis vegetative stage, how-to guide

We gave the remaining two auto’s to a friend who was more than happy to grow these Auto Orange Bud plants alongside some mother plants . That’s one of the benefits of growing autoflower strains. You can easily mix them with plants in your mother/clone room or put them next to the plants that are still in VEG mode, for the complete cycle. It’s an easy way to get some quick bud when you don’t yet have any photoperiods on a 12/12 light cycle.

During the following 2 weeks the plants seemed to grow rather bushy and wide. You could easily see that the biggest plant was standing in the largest container. Although we did select the biggest seedling for this as well. The plants weren’t yet very tall, but this could change later. One plant stayed a little smaller while 3 others were roughly the same size and width.

The auto’s had a dark green colour and nice looking fan leaves. You could see they were doing well. One plant had a weird leaf structure with light green veins. But despite this, the plant was still growing strong and healthily. We would see what happens in the weeks to come.

Auto Orange Bud in bloom (20/4 autoflower light schedule)

A few weeks later and the plants had grown quite a lot. The grow seemed a little finicky/tricky, it probably had something to do with the LED light. Some of the plants had a larger internodal spacing than we expected. The plants looked very healthy though, they had a nice green colour and sharp leaf edges. The stretchiest autoflowers were super-cropped on the main stem, in order to keep a more even canopy.

The other ladies had a very good internodal spacing, just a few cm apart. These buds were probably going to grow into thick cola’s. Resin development started early too; you could see the small leaves surrounding the white hairs were already covered with trichomes.

We had the feeling that the LED light was causing the plants to stretch more than they normally would. Also, there was more space between the nodes at the bottom of the canopy. It might have been related to the spectrum or the fact that the grow light didn’t have an even/consistent light spread.

With the lights at full power it was easy to see the loss in light spread. In the middle there was a hot spot that seemed to get more light than the sides. This could well have been the reason the plants at the sides stretched more than was expected.

Related:
Cannabis flowering stage, how-to guide

A few weeks later and the plants were starting to fatten up. After 9-10 weeks the buds were getting close to the finish line. All 5 ladies had a more Sativa dominant structure. A little stretchy, with a more open bud structure. They smelled amazing though! Very fruity, a strong citrus smell came off all of them. And the buds looked very potent too! Definitely a nice resin coating on the flowers.

The buds didn’t become the biggest in size, but they were very white and resinous. It seemed the plants had a good calyx-to-leaf ratio and although these plants were grown naturally the plants developed well from top to bottom. Some blooms were sagging a bit because of their own weight but the top cola’s were still standing upright.

Related:
Topping autoflowers for yield, good idea or bad?

There was one phenotype that had a more open bud structure, slightly fluffy. This was the weird plant from the start and although this lady didn’t look quite as good, her resin levels and aroma were just great. Also, the small leaves were covered in resin, making it good material to make your own citrus-hash.

Other pheno’s had quite firm buds, especially when considering that she is such a Sativa dominant Orange strain. We love the strong citrus, orange perfume. Sometimes it was a little sour and zesty, more lemon-like, but always very appealing. We couldn’t wait to trim these ladies!

Harvest report for Auto Orange Bud

Final Height in cm:

Most plants reached around 60-90cm in height and I think if we hadn’t super-cropped the biggest ladies they might have become a little larger, reaching 1 metre and taller. Knowing that these ladies were grown in 20L Airpots (and one 30L Airpot) the height is medium to large. It’s not a small autoflower strain! Also, I think the LED light had some influence on their growth as well. Maybe with a better light these ladies would have become even bigger and better.

Calyx-leaf ratio (Easy trim/yes or no) :

Yes, the calyx-to-leaf ratio was good. Some plants could be plucked by hand. These were very frosty phenotypes with only small sugar leaves that could be taken out easily. There was one phenotype that had a slightly fluffier bud structure but even this plant didn’t have excessive leaf growth. Trimming was fun, the accumulated resin on the scissors and the finger-hash were a real treat to smoke.

Related:
How to harvest, dry and cure cannabis

Quality (Resin/Smell/Compactness) :

The quality is there! These Auto Orange Bud buds smelled truly amazing. What a fruity bud! Lime, lemon, orange, with a hint of tropical fruit like Pineapple and Mango. If you want to experience a cannabis fruit cocktail this is the one. It’s quite a pungent aroma too, something you can smell from a distance. And it tingles the nose a little. Genuine connoisseur quality.

The resin levels are off the charts, this auto has truly a great bag appeal. The flowers feel very sticky too, almost a velvet-like feel. The buds are also quite firm and dense, not fluffy. Only one plant had a more open bud structure – and this lady was a bit weird from the start.

The others all looked solid, with vivid orange pistils and a thick and sticky resin layer!

Auto Orange Bud – great taste, tied and effect!

Yield :

The yield was very good, the 5 plants together yielded around 270g of dried buds. And there was around 15g of small popcorn buds. Besides that, the trimmings were not bad either, these small sugar leaves smelled amazing. It’s actually great material from which to make your own hash. The smallest plant yielded just over 35g. The others were roughly the same, with an average yield of around 60+ grams per plant.

Although we have seen bigger yields (in terms of gram per watt) we weren’t unhappy. The light that was used was a Chinese test module and probably not optimised. The light seemed to be rather basic – the light spread wasn’t good, the colour spectrum was not the same across the grow room and we had a feeling it wasn’t efficient either. We were glad the Auto Orange Bud plant still managed to produce some high-quality buds!

Remarks after curing :

Citrus fruit mixed with candy might be the best way to describe the smell and taste of this premium autoflower strain. Some pheno’s smell like pure oranges and tangerines while others have a sweeter, candy-like aroma, maybe with some sour/chemical tones too. After a good cure these buds smelled even better than they did before. It made the aroma even more complex and interesting. The smoke experience is also great, it’s a genuinely tasty variety! Mostly sour, citrus lemon tones can be tasted with that chemical funk in the background. We loved it!

Overall rating (5 star rating) : 4+, Auto Orange Bud is truly a great strain terpene-wise.

Aroma	★★★★½ (4.5 stars)
Taste	★★★★½ (4.5 stars)
Effect	★★★★☆ (4 stars)
Bag appeal	★★★★☆ (4 stars)
Overall rating	★★★★☆ (4+ stars)

Auto Orange Bid is very fruity and tasty, you feel like a kid in the candy store. Besides having a strong citrus aroma and taste, the high is pleasing as well. More energising and uplifting but with some degree of body relaxation.

Special advice for growing Auto Orange Bud seeds

Auto Orange Bud was very easy to grow. We think this autoflower will suit beginners too. When you are looking for some smokable fruit than this might be the strain you need!  She is quite a vigorous grower and will have no trouble filling up your grow room.

Our grow light really seemed to be poor quality.  This grow could have turned out much nicer if we had used a better LED grow light. But still Auto Orange Bud really surprised us with its bud quality. The buds are quite dense for a Sativa, and they are pretty resinous and potent too. The aroma and taste are truly top-notch.

Growing these ladies was fun, especially during the flowering period. Walking into the room and opening the tent put a big smile on our faces. She handled high temperatures in the grow room without any issues. This grow was done during summer and temperatures sometimes exceeded 35 degrees Celsius. Our only tip is that you supply the plants with enough water and fresh air, so they won’t perish.

To conclude, Auto Orange Bud is a resilient and stable autoflower strain which we will definitely grow another time again!