Organic Bubba Island Kush grow review with LED grow lights

Bubba Island Kush is one of Dutch Passion’s most popular strains from the USA Special cannabis seed collection. The genetics come from cannabis cup winning parents, pre ‘98 Bubba Kush X (Grandaddy Purple x OG Kush). This is a perfect strain for those seeking a fast-acting anti-anxiety Kush strain with world class breeding.

This compact strain delivers very hard buds. Bloom time is a remarkably fast 7 weeks, this is one of the fastest flowering USA indica strains you will see. Perfect for growers who want a fast harvest!

In this grow, ‘Antonio’, germinated 10 seeds. The best 9 were selected for growth using organic nutrients from BioTabs. One plant was grown with the SCROG method. The remaining 8 were grown in a semi-SOG system. The results were notable for the beautifully coloured plants covered in a rich, dense trichome frosting. THC levels on Bubba Island Kush are around 20% making her a member of the Dutch Passion Very High THC seed Collection.

Bubba Island Kush grow room conditions

The Bubba Island Kush seeds were grown organically using LED growlights. Details are below:

Bubba Island Kush seed germination and vegetative growth

Remarks during germination:

Nothing special to mention here, germinated 10 seeds and had a 100% germination rate, as always. Germination went fast, within 3 days all the seeds had popped and were showing a healthy little taproot. They were then transferred to small 0.25L pots for the pre-growth phase which lasted for about 2.5 weeks.

Remarks during vegetative phase – VEG (18/6):

After these 2 weeks, one plant was selected to grow as a single plant and the others were grown in a different grow room with 8 plants (best 8 out of 9 were selected) on a m². In total there were two rows of 4 plants. The plants all showed a broad leaf structure and a dark green color.

This definitely shows their Indica heritage. She grows like a compact little tree with strong rugged stems and thick bladed leafs. The serrated leafs seems to have a light shimmering layer on them. They are so beautiful to look at! People that like compact Indica’s will not be disappointed.

The single plant was transferred to a 30L Airpot and grown with the SCROG technique in a 60x90cm grow tent with a MS001 Dutch Passion LED light with a 180W power draw. She was kept in the vegetative phase for another 5 weeks, so she could fill up the scrog net before switching to flowering.

She isn’t the fastest grower but being very Indica dominant I didn’t expect her to handle the SCROG technique this well. Sometimes you see that pure Indica’s with thick stems don’t like to be ‘scrogged’ (or bent/supercropped). This single Bubba Island Kush didn’t seem to care and was actually pretty fun to grow.

The other 8 were grown in a 118x78cm grow closet with a first generation KIND LED XL750 with a 430W power draw. These ladies were transplanted into 12L Root Pouches after their first pre-growth phase. They were kept in veg for another 2 weeks before the clock was switched to 12/12. Knowing these were fast flowering plants I did not want to interfere with their growth pattern, so I let them grow naturally/freely, without using any techniques to control their height.  Leaf stripping was actually not necessary since they didn’t have any excessive leaf growth.

Bubba Island Kush flowering period, 12/12 light conditions

The single plant in the SCROG didn’t have a lot of stretch, I waited with the flowering phase until almost the complete net was filled with branches and new growth shoots. In flowering the branches reached about 30cm above the net, which was close to perfect. She has a medium internodal spacing, unfortunately the buds didn’t stack completely but all the bud sites became very compact and heavy, putting down quite some weight.

Bubba Island Kush is a plant that stays fairly compact in general, her growth pattern makes her very suitable for a SOG grow. About 6 of the 8 plants had the same amount of stretch and stayed pretty compact. Two plants showed a bit more stretch and these 2 became the biggest plants of the batch.

Although their growth structure was definitely a bit different the bud structure was still generally the same. The same goes for the insane amount of resin that was on the flowers and leaves. Bubba Island Kush grows pretty slowly and doesn’t stretch a lot. She will eventually look like a little compact bush with nice & compact flowers that become very white and frosty.

I noticed all plants showed leaves which kept on turning darker and darker during flowering, until they are almost black just before harvest. This is pretty special to witness. It also gives the colas some great contrast with the outrageous amount of resin/trichomes that are on the flowers and leaves. A lot of phenotypes tend to get purple hues in the flowers too. Very subtle though, but it adds another layer of bag appeal to this variety.

You could strip some fan leaves that are blocking the light for the lower branches, but in the end, it didn’t really seem necessary during this grow. There was still some light being bounced back via the sides of the grow room to the lower parts so that’s the reason for not having to take away many leaves.

Bubba Island Kush harvest report

Final Height in cm:

Most plants in the SOG averaged around 50-60cm with 2 of the of the biggest ones reaching around 75-90cm. She is a compact and robust strain that is really suitable to grow the natural way. Her stems are strong enough to support the weight of the flowers and they won’t easily bend or break.

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

Yes, she has a very favourable calyx-to-leaf ratio making her pretty easy to trim. Once you have plucked the biggest leaves you can manicure the buds in no-time.

Quality (Resin/Smell/Compactness):

Truly top notch quality, she has the perfect combination of looks, smell and taste. Her buds are not the biggest but super compact. So even a small little nug goes a long way!

I personally love the Sour, Kushy aroma and taste of the variety. She has an earthy sour kush smell, and once lit you can taste some zesty, sour tones accompanied by the earthy, spicy tones of the kush. Pretty amazing, it’s one of the tastiest buds I have ever had. Smokers that, for example, like a Sour Diesel will absolutely love this one too. She is super pungent, that aroma can be smelled from a mile away!

Resin levels are off the charts, she has super frosty nugs with thick layers of trichomes. Even at just 7 weeks of flowering the trichomes are predominantly cloudy with even some amber trichomes. The single plant was cut at 8 weeks and she showed a lot more amber trichomes giving her an even stronger punch and couch-lock feeling.

Bubba Island Kush harvest comments and observations

Yield:

The yield of Bubba Island Kush is medium to large. It may not be the biggest yield, but remember that she is often done within 7 weeks and few strains can compete with that speed. Growers that work with separate veg and flower rooms could even complete 6-7 grow cycles in a year. That’s pretty cool.

The single plant yielded about 130g of dried buds. In terms of Grams/Watt this wasn’t a large yield, but bear in mind she was grown with one of the first generation LED lights (from 5 years ago), it wasn’t bad either!

The 8 plants yielded around 285g of dry buds, an average of almost 36g per plant. They managed to do this within a 7-week time frame which was really fast. G/watt wise, the result was roughly the same compared to the single plant (around 0.7g/watt).

Remarks after curing :

These are very potent buds with an amazing sour pungency, zesty and kushy. Pretty damn special! When you open the jar, the pungent aroma quickly fills the room. It is recommended to store the buds with humidity packs so you can enjoy these flowers for many months to come.

Type: Feminised seeds

Genetics: pre ‘98 Bubba Kush X (Grandaddy Purple x OG Kush)

Family: USA Special

Plant type: Indica

THC: Very high

Flowering: 7 weeks

Yield: L

Special remarks and tips for growing Bubba Island Kush

Bubba Island Kush was a real pleasure to grow. Her tough and compact structure makes her very suitable to grow the natural way or in a SOG. There is actually little need for support/maintenance during the complete cycle, she practically grows all by herself.

She even did well in a SCROG, the tough stems don’t break easily and can handle some bending and supercropping techniques too. Her flowers are compact and easy to trim. Combine this with the super-fast flowering cycle and you have a solid strain for any type of home grower that is looking to grow high quality in a short amount of time. In case you want a bigger yield, then try giving her even a longer VEG period than I did.

Please note that this variety is even a bigger pleasure to smoke! She has an absolutely amazing aroma and taste which consists of very loud and dominant sour, kush terps, making this one of the best varieties I have smoked during recent years. Hitting an overall 4,5 star mark shows this flower is definitely something special and worth growing. You will have some A-grade quality head-stash to impress your friends or other cannabis enthusiasts.

Read more grow reviews from Antonio

• Meringue grown indoor with the SCROG method
• C-Vibez grown indoor with LED grow lights in 25 litre airpots