Gorilla Cookies Auto Cannabis Strain Week-by-Week Guide
- 1. Grow specifications
- 2. Grow set up
- 2. a. Grower a: bloombuster
- 2. b. Grower b: mrhightimes
- 2. c. Grower c: bigbush
- 2. d. Grower d: myrcenecb1
- 3. Germination and seedling stage | week 1
- 4. Early veg | week 2
- 5. Mid veg | weeks 3-4
- 6. Transition (pre-flower) | week 5
- 7. Early flower | weeks 6-7
- 8. Mid flower (bulk phase) | weeks 8-9
- 9. Ripening and harvest | week 10 (and beyond)
- 10. How to properly trim, dry, and cure your gorilla cookies cannabis harvest
- 10. a. Trimming your gorilla cookies cannabis harvest
- 10. b. Wet trimming gorilla cookies flowers
- 10. c. Dry trimming gorilla cookies cannabis
- 10. d. Drying rooms for cannabis
- 10. e. How to dry gorilla cookies cannabis weed
- 10. f. Curing gorilla cookies cannabis flowers
- 10. g. How to cure gorilla cookies cannabis flowers
- 10. h. Burping the curing jars
- 11. The outcome
- 11. a. Gorilla cookies auto yield
- 11. b. Gorilla cookies auto smoke report
- 12. In conclusion
Preface
This week-to-week guide will lead us through the teaching process and describe the whole life cycle of the Gorilla Cookies Auto cannabis strain. This article is valuable for any grower, as well as any professional or a beginner, primarily due to the presence of Enzo Schillaci’s and Jorge Cervantes’ knowledge. It elaborates on the cultivation process of this exceptional auto-flowering variety, from seed germination to a high-yield and powerful crop.
It supplies the necessary information and useful recommendations concerning the increase of yields and potency. Other standard features of Gorilla Cookies Auto are its high-powered profound effect, average THC level of 20%, and unusual taste. This guide provides a very clear timeline of the strain’s evolution, stressing key developmental phases, ideal feeding schedules, and optimal production methods for resourceful cultivation.
The book is intended for growers who are to confront the opportunities and problems of this special culture and is devoted to changes in light regimes and training techniques, appropriate for all kinds of growers, from novices to experienced ones. With his wide ranging childhood experience in the Amazon and his understanding of writing, Enzo Schillaci paints a picture and gives simple and workable solutions to life.
Who is Jorge Cervantes, that man with numerous years of experience and one of the most famous authors of the guides on cannabis growing? Their combined knowledge is also another important source of information when it comes to growing a good crop.
Intro
Gorilla Cookies Auto is a new strain in the FastBuds’ collection, but already hugely popular because it has so much to recommend it. First, it’s a cross of two top-selling varieties and combines the best features of each. So if you were wondering whether to grow a Gorilla Glue or a Girl Scout Cookies, how about trying both in one go?
Second, this weed is vying for the title of the strongest autoflower in the market today. With up to 28.5% THC, it seems like a winning bid. Gorilla Cookies Auto hits hard and fast. Such high THC levels result in an immediate effect that lasts for quite some time. Beginner cannabis users need to tread with caution around this strain, and even veteran smokers need to take their time when it comes to hitting joints and bongs packed with these flowers. The strength of this cultivar makes it perfect for lazy afternoons, while relaxing on the beach, or during parties and social gatherings. This strain might help some users get in the zone and do some work, but most won’t feel like sitting down and completing mundane tasks once this heavy high sets in!
Gorilla Cookies Auto is also a very rewarding cultivar. In this post, we’ll show you the strain’s week-by-week progress from a germinated seed all the way to a mature plant whose branches almost snap under the weight of buds. Hopefully, this will inspire you to achieve no less spectacular results.
1. Grow Specifications
First of all, Gorilla Cookies Auto is a true autoflower, meaning that it doesn’t care how many light hours you give it during any of the grow stages. As you shall presently see, even 24/0 cycle delays neither the start of flowering, nor the day of the harvest. Second, this strain is very hardy and requires exactly zero expertise. Even if it’s your first-time grow, you can count on results that—with other strains—only an experienced gardener can hope to get. The resilient genetics within this cannabis strain is extremely impressive and offer a buffer against pest infestations and disease-causing pathogens. Plus, she handles harsh weather well. Sure, she won’t survive a heavy frost, but she grows happily during the later stages of the growing season in cooler northern climates. If you simply don’t have the time in your day to constantly check on your plants and nurture them, this hardy variety will certainly appeal to your growing style. Just make sure you provide her with enough water and organic nutrients and you’ll find yourself harvesting a rewarding yield in no time at all.
Gorilla Cookies Auto is a well-balanced hybrid that is leaning only ever so slightly to the Indica side. It sports huge broad leaves and buds the size of a golf ball. Even if left alone, it grows into a plant with oversized side branches. Train it, and you’ll find it difficult to see which one of the branches used to be the central cola. They’ll all look equally voluptuous. Putting in the extra time to train Gorilla Cookies Auto will pay dividends in the near future. Techniques that take a low toll on plant growth, such as low-stress training, are perfect for autos because they don’t need to take time to recover from the process. Ultimately, training will help your plant produce bigger yields of uniform plants that are less likely to harbor mould, unlike large central colas grown in humid environments. Additionally, by creating an even canopy, low-stress training enhances the movements of air around the bud sites during the flowering stage of the growing cycle. This will help to keep your buds in top condition and prevent mould from contaminating your harvest.
No wonder this cannabis is so high-yielding. It produces 500 – 600 gr/m2 (1.6 – 2 oz/ft2) indoors and 50 – 300 gr (2 – 11 oz) per plant outdoors. You'd expect numbers like this from a photoperiod variety, but this one’s an auto with its whole seed-to-harvest timeline fitting into 10 weeks or thereabouts.
2. Grow Set Up
Gorilla Cookies Auto is a relatively new variety, so we’ve had a hard time finding enough grow reports that are sufficiently detailed, especially during this autoflower flowering stages. Also important was the number of quality photos to really get the feel of what this strain was all about. Luckily, we managed to find 4 grow journals documenting Gorilla Cookies Auto progress rather well. Let’s start with getting acquainted with their authors.
Grower A: Bloombuster
The grower who calls himself Bloombuster has been active on Growdiaries for a year and a half. He grows one plant at a time and has only 4 finished grow cycles so far, but 3 of them are decorated with the Diary of the Month awards. He also knows how to take beautiful photos of his ladies.
Bloombuster uses a Secret Jardin Dark Street 60 grow tent with the dimensions 2’x2’x5’ (0.6m/0.6m/1.8m). The tent is equipped with a 100 m3/h (58.9 CFM) duct fan. Another such fan, only a weaker one, serves to move air around inside the tent. To stabilize temperature and relative humidity, he has installed a humidifier with an on-board sensor.
Bloombuster has also custom-made a LED light out of an aluminum plate, two ‘silent’ PC fans, and Citizen COB LEDs designed to give out the best spectrum for cannabis flowering stages. This light draws only 150W of power. All the more amazing are the results that this handy guy delivers.
Another DIY solution that makes his grows such a success is a homemade drip system. Bloombuster has fashioned it out of a 10L (2.64 gal) plastic reservoir and a tube with 4 emitters. Despite growing in coco, he doesn’t use frequent watering, but only waters his plant once a day—at lights on.
Grower B: MrHightimes
MrHightimes has been sharing his grows for less than a year, but he’s already carrying a ‘Master’ title and has collected 3 trophies, including a Golden Cup in Fast Buds Valentine’s Contest.
He uses a 36"X36"X72" Vivosun grow tent. Usually, it houses 4 medium-sized plants comfortably, but, in this particular case, the 4 Gorilla Cookies Auto got so wide and bushy that he had to borrow a bigger tent from a friend for the last couple of weeks of the flowering stage.
As a source of light for both the vegetative phase and the flowering time, MrHightimes uses the same LED quantum board—HLG 300 V2 Rspec by Horticulture Lighting Group.
This light has garnered a lot of positive reviews because it runs cool and is silent and is especially efficient for cannabis flowering stages thanks to a very good bloom spectrum. Its only downside is that you can’t use this light in smaller tents. It’s too powerful and will burn your cannabis if you keep it too close.
Grower C: Bigbush
Bigbush is so new to the game, this Gorilla Cookies Auto grow is his very first one. He’s using a 2'X4'X6' (120x60x180cm) Mars Hydro tent which is perfect for 2-3 large autoflowers standing side by side.
The light that he chose—a Mars Hydro TSL 2000—fits this tent perfectly. And it has only positive reviews because it has a lot to recommend it:
- it’s possible to harvest up to 1.5 grams per watt,
- the quality of buds is really impressive,
- dialing in the settings allows you to use this LED from seed to harvest without even moving it!
As we shall see, Bigbush didn’t really use this light to its full potential. Mostly because he didn’t even attempt to train his plants. Well, good for us. Sometimes, it’s very instructive to watch a gardener who’s like Perry the Platypus inaction figure—does absolutely nothing!
Grower D: MyrceneCB1
With 4 finished grow cycles so far, MyrceneCB1’s experience is very interesting because he has chosen a rather rare form of hydroponics. Instead of using some kind of a top feed system for his coco medium, he waters his pots from the bottom.
For this, he has installed an Autopot system where the lower portion of the pots is filled with expanded clay and gets flooded with a nutrient solution. Above the layer of clay pebbles is coco which draws up moisture from below, wicker-style.
The beauty of Autopots is that they don’t need electricity or timers. A valve makes sure that the solution in the pots always floods the clay pebbles at a certain level. And it’s gravity fed from an external reservoir.
Another interesting feature of his setup was the so-called AirDome installed in the bottom of each pot. What it does is it saturates the solution with air bubbles, providing the much needed oxygen to the lower roots.
MyrceneCB1 uses a 4’x4’ Gorilla grow tent (which his 4 autoflowers never quite fill) and a 550-Watt LED light HLG 550 V2 Rspec (which is a bit of an overkill, too, even for Gorilla Cookies cannabis flowering stages).
| Grower | Grow Room | Watts Used | Type of Light | Brand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | 2'x2' | 150W | LED | Citizen COBs |
| B | 3'x3' | 270W | LED | HLG |
| C | 2'x4' | 300W | LED | Mars Hydro |
| D | 4'x4' | 550W | LED | HLG |
The table above compares the grow room size, the wattage, and the type of lights used by all four growers.
3. Germination And Seedling Stage | Week 1
Most of the guys in our review germinated the exact number of seeds that they wanted to grow. Only Grower D germinated 5 seeds instead of 4, just in case. However, it wasn’t necessary—the germination rate was 100% for everyone.
A: A Little Jah Magic Never Hurts
Grower A used the germination method that’s quite popular in his home country. He places a seed between two wet cotton disks and puts them into a zip lock. That’s not it. The custom requires that you first exhale some ‘carbon dioxide’ into the bag and only then zip it shut.
To be honest, seed embryos require oxygen rather than CO2, so plain old room air would do even better, but no matter. Besides this, grower A did everything else right. This technique might seem overly simple, but it’s a highly effective way to provide a seed with everything that it needs during the germination process. The water within the saturated cotton disks helps to trigger things; water causes seeds to swell up and catalyses all of the required chemical reactions within the seed that enables the embryo to start to develop. The plastic bag also helps to trap moisture which seeds need in order to remain wet. Seeds that dry out are more likely to fail germination and result in a disappointed grower.
The seed was put in a dark warm place and planted on the second day when the tap root was more than an inch (3cm) long. The seedling spent the beginning of its first month in a 1L (0.26 gal) jiffy container filled with a coco/perlite mixture amended with some nutrients. During the first week, it only received plain filtered water.
Interestingly, the temperature was the same for both the ‘day’ and the ‘night’ in the first two weeks—at 73°F (23°C). In my experience, if there’s no circadian temp difference, seedlings tend to get stretchy. And that's exactly what happened to this Gorilla Cookies Auto.
The gardener specifically mentioned that this one was taller than in his previous grows, but attributed it to the vigor of the genetics. Why not. It could be both.
B: The Straight-in-the-Medium Germination Was a Success
The guy soaked his 4 seeds overnight and was happy to see one of them crack by morning. Initially, he planned to use the standard paper towel method, but then decided to put seeds directly into the final containers. It’s quite an effective method, although very taxing to newbies’ nerves because you have no way of checking what is happening down below. This technique has several benefits, including the fact that growers don’t need to disturb seeds that have sprouted by transplanting them into a growing medium. Once germinated, seeds that are directly sown are able to immediately send their tap root down into the soil and begin establishing a healthy root system.
To increase the chances of success when using this technique, we recommend harnessing the power of beneficial microbes. Dipping your seeds in some KNF lactic acid bacteria serum will help to protect them against pathogens, and sprinkling in some mycorrhizal fungi spores or propagules will inoculate your seeds and help your plants uptake nutrients better as your plants grow. He used 3-gallon (11.36L) grow bags filled with a pre-fabricated 100% coco/perlite mixture by Bushdoctor. Unfortunately, the mixture turned out to be crawling with springtails, especially in the first days when the seedlings were covered with transparent plastic bags to raise humidity.
The springtails disappeared (moved deep into the medium?) when the RH level dropped from 90 to 70 percent. As for the temperature, the grower set it at 72°F (22°C) in the very first week and kept this level till the harvest. We’d say it’s a bit too cool even for a mature plant and even more so for a seedling. On the other hand, the light schedule was 24/0 for all grow stages, and cooler temps are probably more comfortable for cannabis that never gets a night’s rest.
C: No Fuss from the Start
Grower C began the life cycle of his two Gorilla Cookies Auto seeds by pre-soaking them in a glass of water. Then he simply put them straight into the final containers, specifically 5L (1.32 gal) grow bags filled with a 65% soil / 35% perlite mixture. Very similar to what his fellow B did.
We’d say that the temperature he chose for the seedling stage was uncomfortably low:
- 20°C (68°F) day temp
- 18°C (64°F) night temp
On the other hand, the relative humidity of 80% was just about right.
The only thing that the seedlings got in their first week was plain water. Later they would begin to receive some nutrients, but only in tiniest amounts because the soil contained enough food for a good start.
The grower kept pH at 6.5 for almost the entire cycle, only lowering it to 6.3 in the final two weeks of Gorilla Cookies Auto flowering stage (final flush weeks). Not a bad decision per se. At least a safe one.
However, different elements in fertilizers have different pH ranges for the optimal absorption. So it would probably be best to let pH fluctuate a bit within the acceptable values (between 6.0 and 6.5 for soil cultivation).
D: Everything by the Book
Grower D also started by pre-soaking the seeds for 12 hours in a glass of water, but added some Nitrozyme (10ml/L). Nitrozyme is a concentrate made of kelp and can be used as a stimulator for foliar growth at any stage of a crop’s life cycle.
Then the seeds were left to germinate between paper towels, and, when their tap roots became long and ‘furry’, they went into a tray with Root Riot plugs. Those are manufactured from fine-milled sphagnum peat moss and can be later transferred into any medium.
The germination took place inside a humidity dome at 23°C (73°F) and 80-90% RH. Soon the grower inserted the plugs into party cups filled with a 60/40 coco/perlite mix.
The seedlings received 18 hours of light a day. (Which schedule the gardener would keep till the harvest.) He mixed a rather strong nutrient solution of 555 PPM. Just to show them who’s boss. The young ladies took this well and looked big, robust, and healthy.
4. Early Veg | Week 2
The second week was easy sailing for everyone, although you could already spot the future winners and losers in the race.
A: Not Yet Ready for the Adult World
The grower thought that 1L of medium was still enough for the second week, so he refrained from transplanting. However, he introduced plant food. Since his nutrients were a rather exotic brand made in Ukraine, it’s not very instructive to talk about them in detail. Suffice it to say, the set contains a 2-component veg and a 2-component bloom formula, as well as a pH-down and a PK booster.
By the middle of the flowering stage, he would switch to more predictable nutrient lines — GHE and BioBizz.
The seedling looked good (the left one on the photo below). By no means a prodigy for its age, but this had probably more to do with the growing conditions than with the genetics. At least, the grower said that this one looked bigger than his previous seedlings at the same age.
B: Healthy, Robust, Uniform
Frankly, we suspect that Grower B had started to count the age of his plants at the wrong moment. That’s why his Gorilla Cookies Auto timeline seemed to be off from the start and his girls looked at least a full week older than their counterparts in other grows. Here’s what we’re talking about:
And this is the end of the second week. All four look amazing and ready for the first bout of LST.
The gardener was still guessing what amount of water would be best for this age and size. It’s always a conundrum when you put a young plant straight into its final (and oversized) pot. Later, when the root system fills the whole volume of the medium, things will be pretty straightforward—you just water the pot to saturation.
Since in coco it’s an absolute must to fertilize your marijuana from early on (even if the medium has been initially amended), Grower B introduced some nutrients right after the germination.
On Weeks 1 and 2, he used the following:
- Hydroguard by Botanicare (beneficial bacteria to prevent root rot and damping off),
- FloraBlend (a vegan booster for healthy roots),
- Floralicious Plus (a blend of bioactive extracts for fatter buds and stronger flavors),
- Diamond Nectar (humic acids that help roots absorb mineral nutrients),
- CaMg+ (a source of calcium and magnesium which are usually lacking in coco).
There are no macro- and micro-nutrients in this list, but—judging by the photos—the plants seemed happy with what they were getting.
C: In the Slow Lane
Compared to others, these two seedlings looked stunted. The reason could be too low day temperature. This is the way outdoor weed looks when you move it outside too early in the season.
The grower chose an organic nutrient line manufactured by BioBizz. He started using their CalMag practically from the very beginning and till the final flush. And on week 2 he also started to add Root Juice. This amendment not only helps with the development of healthy roots, but is also beneficial after the root system has fully established.
D: The Second and Final Transplant
In the second week, Grower D made yet another transplant—this time into the final 4-gallon (15L) Autopots. He was in a hurry because he had to leave his grow unsupervised for a few days. The Autopot system was to take care of the watering during his absence, but, while the plants were still settling down in their new home, he fertigated them manually.
He noticed some yellowing on the first set of true leaves which could well be a magnesium deficiency although the manufacturer of his coco mix—Ugro—says the medium comes pre-buffered with both magnesium and calcium. So he upped the dosage of Cal-Mag Plus and even foliar-fed his plants with this additive.
In any hydroponic setup, coco included, feeding becomes an exact science and plays the most important role in the success of the grow. So let’s have a look at the feeding chart that the gardener followed in the vegetative phase.
The staple of his feed was the 3-part non-organic fertilizer GHE Flora Series. It consists of FloraMicro (which is the source of micronutrients), FloraGro and FloraBloom which you can mix at different ratios for different stages of flowering and vegging. This nutrient line was first formulated in 1976 and has long become a benchmark for the quality of mineral fertilizers.
Another important part of the feed was a rooting enhancer called RapidStart. Btw, this stimulator can be given throughout the vegetetive stage and early flowering, that is until the root system stops developing.
Two other interesting items in this regimen were Liquid Silicon that promises bushier plants with darker foliage and AquaBurst that helps moisture better penetrate the entire volume of the medium. Both supplements by Growth Technology.
5. Mid Veg | Weeks 3-4
The second part of the first month was the time when those who managed to create good conditions in their gardens saw vigorous vegetative growth which allowed them to do some canopy management.
A: FIM Requires a Steady Hand
On day 20, Grower A decided to top his Gorilla Cookies Auto using the FIM (‘F…, I missed!’) technique. He probably missed it the wrong way because there were no extra shoots growing on top. Only a few mangled leaves.
However, two good things happened. First, Gorilla Cookies Auto took the procedure like the champ she is. She quickly overcame the stress of the FIMming and the repotting and continued with the growth. Second, the FIMming stimulated the development of side branches.
The grower soon gave this process another boost by implementing LST. He fixed the base of the main stalk in place with a piece of string and bent the stem the other way. He also spread the side shoots horizontally.
Besides these traditional LST methods, he also tucked several bigger leaves under the branches using a rather singular technique. He takes a pair of opposing fan leaves, crosses their petioles under a branch and ties them together. This way, the older leaves don’t cast a shadow on some important younger growth.
Most marijuana gardeners obtain the same result by simply defoliating. That is they pluck the leaves that are in the way. However, tucking them is probably a less stressful procedure. Besides, the leaves, with all the useful nutrients stored inside them, remain available for the plant.
As we already mentioned, Gorilla Cookies Auto was transplanted into a bigger and final pot around this time. It was a 25L grow bag filled with 18L (4,76 gal) of medium. The standard recommendation is NOT to repot autoflowers, but for modern varieties this piece of advice is often ignored and the yields don’t seem to suffer. The trick is to do this before the pre-flowering stage begins.
B: Two Very Busy Weeks
Grower B used the same basic nutrients as his fellow D, and also a similar set of supplements and stimulators. It’s all the more interesting to compare the results of the two.
As far as the Flora Series is concerned, the grower used it even more sparingly than the manufacturer recommends as the ‘light feed’ option. Probably, he was following someone else’s custom feeding schedule for autoflowers seen on the web. The result, as we shall see, was quite good.
Let’s have a look at the entire feeding schedule he gave his autoflower week by week:
The grower thought it was high time to start the low-stress training. Actually, LST was probably even overdue because it’s easier to work with a stalk and branches that are young and pliable. He learned his lesson when one of the stems snapped (but didn’t break completely).
Despite this minor bump, all the third-week LST was a success, and the plants bounced back in no time.
In the fourth week, all four ladies showed so much vigor that the stakes holding down the branches couldn’t cope. Only a few spacers that the grower had also used during the previous week’s LST kept the branches apart a little. It seems that a more reliable solution is wires or strings, not stakes.
By week 4, the foliage got so dense that the grower decided to give it a light haircut. It was the first time in his short growing career that he could muster some courage and actually defoliate. The Gorilla Cookies seemed like they didn’t even notice.
C: Seedlings Finally Transition to Veg
At the age when they were supposed to explode, these two Gorilla Cookies remained rather runty and looked like they were shivering from cold more than anything. 20°C during the day and 18°C in the night (68°F and 64°F, respectively) can be well termed ‘exposure’.
The grower was still trying to figure out the best way to water them and decided that they preferred frequent watering with small amounts.
D: Rapid Development Due to Hydroponics
In the third week, Grower D finally turned on his automatic watering system called Autopot. He placed the reservoir outside the tent to keep down the temperature of the feeding solution. The ladies took to Autopot beautifully, probably because its bubbling component—AirDome—did such a nice job providing the roots with oxygen.
The plants were growing rapidly enough to call for training. The grower LSTed them two times and was satisfied with the result.
Except for one little hitch. While bending the stem on one of the girls, he tore the top off. Being the second instance in our review, it’s turning into a trend. The lesson: be gentle when training your Gorilla Cookies Auto.
Anyway, by the end of the 4th week, all four ladies, including the maimed one, were showing female hairs at the nodes. The pre-flowering stage has begun, and the flowering was also just around the corner.
6. Transition (Pre-Flower) | Week 5
Most, but not all, Gorilla Cookies Autos began to flower around this time. Even those two that were left to grow naturally turned out to be rather branchy phenos with a lot of vigorous side shoots. The rest were topped, LSTed and supercropped, and grew into formidable beasts with countless flowering tops and huge yield potential.
A: No Preflowers for Another Two Weeks
The veg continued full steam for Grower A. His Gorilla Cookies Auto looked like she could go on like this forever. She only turned bushier and denser and was still receiving veg nutrients (which was logical).
It’s up to debate what was the reason for this failure to enter the pre-flowering stage. Probably, the fact that the plant had been topped.
In the sixth week, the grower added even more stress by deliberately snapping one branch and supercropping another. Then both branches were left to heal and form calluses. The canopy was still flat and sprawling—perfect for a grow under artificial light.
B: The Tent Gets Almost Maxed Out
Grower B had only good things to report because his 4 Gorilla Cookies Autos seemed to enjoy their feeding regimen and looked lush and healthy. Their joined canopy covered almost the entire area.
In the fifth week, the grower invited a friend who had more experience cultivating marijuana and was not afraid to defoliate heavily. Here’s what he did to the garden:
The plants would soon return to practically the same state as before, only with bigger flowers. By the way, the budding stage had already begun in earnest.
C: Flowering Despite Some Kind of Deficiency
Compared to others, these two specimens looked certainly underwhelming, both in terms of size and general vigor. However, the formation of flowers had started. Obviously, Gorilla Cookies Autoflower flowering stages don’t come at the same time. In all four grows, the plants seem to be in different stages of flowering at the same age.
These girls were probably so early to begin flowering because they had been left alone from the start. And also because of smaller pots. When the roots of autoflowers reach the sides of the container, they send out a signal—hormonally—that there’s no more space available and the plant better start flowering. In a larger volume of medium or outdoors, even autos tend to take longer and grow much bigger.
The grower also experienced some issues on younger leaves.
First, we checked whether it may have been caused by light burn, but no. The symptoms appeared simultaneously on both the taller and the shorter plant. They were also present on the tops of side branches (at a greater distance from the light). So it was probably some rare exotic deficiency of a micronutrient, such as boron.
In such cases, it’s never a good thing to try and replenish the deficiency of an element by giving more of it. Most formulas contain enough of each micronutrient. If some of them become deficient, it usually means they are locked due to wrong pH level.
Our boron deficiency hypothesis is corroborated by the fact that the gardener kept pH at 6.5 for every fertigation event. 6.5 is the upper limit for soil, and boron gets absorbed better when pH values are lower. For soil, it is 6.0.
We have already expressed our opinion that it’s best to let pH fluctuate a bit within the acceptable range. Let us quietly enjoy that gratifying ‘I-told-you-so’ moment.
D: When Defoliation Resembles Napalming
Week 5 started well for these four babies. They were reasonably big, branchy, and sporting a lot of vegetation. Three of them even began to flower profusely—with lots of white hairs on every top.
Only plant #3 was lagging. Interestingly, it wasn’t the one that got accidentally topped the week before. Just a slower pheno.
Anyway, the garden was in great shape until the grower started to defoliate and lollipop and got carried away. I think that was the reason for all later issues and decreased yields. We’ve seen some short-of-miracle recoveries before, but not this time. This time, the gardener clearly went too far. Pity. It was such a promising setup.
7. Early Flower | Weeks 6-7
This most exciting of Gorilla Cookies Auto grow stages was very busy for some and going almost on automatic pilot for others. Every plant was well into the budding phase now, and all gardeners had adjusted their feeding formulas accordingly.
A: ScrOG as Support for Future Colas
By the 7th week, Grower A was impatient to see the first flowers, so he switched to the nutrients that are more suited for the flowering stage. And he was awarded with the sight of the first pistils: first at the nodes, and then on the flower tops.
Nevertheless, his Gorilla Cookies Auto looked like the slowest of the bunch. As we shall see, she definitely would take much more time than average, but—as a tradeoff—reward her caregiver with the biggest and heaviest fruits.
The grower wisely prepared for this outcome by stretching a ScrOG net over his little garden. ScrOG is mostly used to guide the growth horizontally, but is also effective as support for future massive colas.
B: Almost in the Home Stretch Now
Grower B couldn’t help but share his excitement with how well things were going. He simply followed his feeding schedule and watched the ladies develop. His garden started to smell now, the buds fattened up, and there were crystals everywhere.
He noticed spots on some of the leaves and upped the CalMag dosage just in case. However, he was never worried because the finish line was already in sight, and the girls looked vibrant.
He made the right move of introducing FoxFarm’s Beastie Bloomz. With NPK 0-50-30, this is a great source of phosphorus and potassium—the two most important nutrients in the flowering stage.
The gardener also continued with defoliation, prompted by the sight of his tent bursting with too much vegetation. But he never went overboard with it, and the girls didn’t mind this treatment in the least. They just chugged along, stacking up flowers upon flowers.
C: When Good Genes Do All the Heavy Lifting
Another two uneventful weeks for Grower C. Except watering, he removed a couple of older fan leaves and called it defoliation. Not that his Gorilla Cookies Auto girls needed it. They were comfortably tall and had comfortably long internodes, allowing the light to reach every bud site.
There was a slight phenotypic variation that made one of the plants slightly taller and perhaps one week closer to the harvest than the other one. The buds were filling out nicely, and the grower installed a dehumidifier to prevent possible mold.
D: Still Showing a Lot of Skin
We were very interested to see whether the plants would recover the foliage after the ruthless defoliation/lollipopping of the previous period. And they did, to some extent. Characteristically, the one plant that was lagging some two weeks behind the others, also recovered the best.
There’s probably a lesson lurking here somewhere: if you strip your ladies naked when they’re already in flower, they’ll keep performing naked for the rest of the show. I myself find it a rather pitiful spectacle.
8. Mid Flower (Bulk Phase) | Weeks 8-9
Amazingly, most Gorilla Cookies Auto plants in our review looked ready for harvest, at least to the naked eye. Of course, trichomes would mature more in the coming weeks and the buds themselves would swell dramatically. However, an impatient smoker could chop and test some after 9 weeks from seeds.
Only one (topped and heavily trained) girl had still a long way to go, but you could already see how gorgeous she’ll be at the end of her journey.
A: The Slow Moving Giant
On Week 8, this single Gorilla Cookies Auto grew through the mesh of ScrOG and looked like a wall-to-wall green carpet. However, the flowering was still slow. To remedy this, the grower decided to switch to other nutrients—specifically GHE Bloom—that had much more sulphur (S) in them. He thought that a lower level of S in his current formula was the reason so few flowers had appeared so far.
He also removed the ties holding down the main stem and the side branches, did two rounds of defoliation, and pruned a lot of smaller branches growing from the nodes of side branches. Which was really necessary due to the sheer number of them. By Week 9, the flowering was going full steam, and the grower stopped worrying.
B: A Tentful of Dank
Week 8 (4 weeks into flowering) was the last one when the four girls received their full rations of flowering nutrients and supplements. On Week 9, it was only GHE Ripen. The grower was nervous about using this source of extra P and K for the first time in his growing career, but everything turned out okay.
Ripen didn’t cause a dramatic swelling of the buds, but speeded up the fade.
Judging by the state of trichomes, the plants weren’t yet ready for harvest, but the grower noticed a couple of amber trichs. The lower bud sites looked a bit less mature, but there was the pressure of harvesting this generation and making room for the next one which was waiting its turn in the veg room.
So the final flush was imminent.
C: Slow and Steady Wins the Race?
These two were still on cruise control. All throughout weeks 8 and 9, the buds were slowly filling out and the leaves were fading. There were a lot of purple hues, probably due to low day and night temps.
The grower did nothing much except plucking off a dead lower leaf here and there. He’d probably get better results if he removed more fan leaves—those that were shading lower bud sites. However, for a first attempt, his two Gorilla Cookies Auto were quite rewarding.
D: Approaching the Finish Line
By week 8, the taller and faster of the four girls was already 4 weeks into flowering and looked spectacular with her multiple sugar-coated buds.
Others were a little behind, both in terms of size and maturity. Plant 3—the slowest one—was now flowering, too, and the grower decided to defoliate her. But not to the same extent as her girlfriends. He also removed a few lower nodes because they were too far down to amount to anything, and adjusted the LST ties.
This plant was to receive another major defoliation in the next week, too.
The grower also noted an interveinal chlorosis on plants 2 and 4. Others didn’t have this issue, and probably it was just a sign of the approaching harvest. However, he decided to bring down pH from 6.0-6.2 to 5.8—a far more appropriate value for a coco grow.
Week 9 was clearly the first week of autumn for at least half of the garden. Plant 1 had ⅔ of trichomes cloudy, calling for a week-long boost with Ripen and then a 3-5-day flush with Kleen. Which presented a problem because the other ladies were far from ready yet. And while he's waiting for the necessary parts to arrive, let’s admire the buds on the most mature of his girls.
9. Ripening And Harvest | Week 10 (And Beyond)
With maybe a couple of exceptions, all Gorilla Cookies Auto were mature enough to be ‘smokable’ on week 10. However, only one of the guys decided it was time to wrap it up, and the others gave their girls more time to fill out and ripen.
Let’s also look at the chart of Gorilla Cookies Auto height in two of the four gardens. (The other two are unavailable, unfortunately.) You might need this data when planning your height management.
A: More Gorgeous With Every Passing Week
While others were getting ready to harvest their Gorilla Glue Auto, Grower A only noted that the initial flowering time stretch had stopped and the buds began to swell noticeably. The plant was still closer to the middle of her timeline than to the actual harvest.
On Week 10, with Gorilla Cookies Auto 4 weeks into flowering, it became clear which of the branches showed potential and which can be pruned. Besides doing that, the gardener also defoliated a bit to make the canopy look less like a rainforest, and upped P and K in his feeding formula.
The smell at this point became noticeable and reminded of yeast more than anything. However, with a bit of imagination, one could also call it baked good or even cookies.
Some leaves showed the symptom of heat stress—edges curling up—on Week 11, but what really got the grower worried was the high density of the foliage and the danger of mold. He only hoped that his Gorilla Cookies Auto would show the resistance to mold which the breeder promised.
In the 12th week, Grower A defoliated his girl 3 times. Sounds kinda rapey when you put it like this, but this move was necessary. Otherwise, the ripening buds and the excessive foliage would form one solid sticky mass. The canopy looked superdense as it was.
The aroma changed to a strong crazy cocktail of fresh citrus, pine forest, and herbs, but would change again the following week to pure sweetness, with notes of berries, cream and something sour.
The grower noticed that some leaf tips began to turn crisp and curl up which is a sign of calcium deficiency. He wasn’t worried though because it was his own decision to keep his Gorilla Cookies Auto hungry for Cal and Mg. He wanted the final product to be as clean as possible.
The penultimate week (14) was the last when the plant got any food. Many leaves turned yellow and started to fall off on their own. The rest showed a lot of purple hues, and the grower characterized his girl as exceptionally beautiful.
With 80% of the trichomes cloudy, the harvest was just around the corner, and the grower took extra care not to overwater. He also reduced the relative humidity by 6%. The colas looked too fat and dense not to fret about mold issues.
Week 15 was the last stretch of this long but exciting journey. The plant was shocked into producing extra resin by two sudden changes in the light schedule: first, 48 hours of light, then, 48 hours of uninterrupted total darkness.
The colas looked a bit famished, but beautiful nevertheless.
B: Time to Wrap it Up
In the 10th and final week, Grower B got a bigger tent from his friends. Which kind of reduced the pressure to hurry up with the harvest. Now he regretted he'd’ been only using Ripen the previous week. He thought his grow would have benefited if he only fed his 4 plants a bit longer.
Anyway, it was too late to make amends, so the grower continued with Ripen and watched more and more trichomes turn amber. Most weed farmers prefer to chop when the trichs are still cloudy and no THC degrades to cannabinol. However, some like a deeper, more sedating effect that only amber trichomes produce.
C: Three Weeks of ‘Autumn’ Cold
Grower C saw enough autumn colors in his grow tent to decide it was time for the final flush. As it would turn out, he started the flush too early and the buds, deprived of nutrients, didn’t fatten up as much as they could.
And they had still 3 weeks to go. The grower noted an intense sweet smell, and the buds looked lovely on both plants.
The canoeing of the leaves—which is usually the symptom of heat stress—this time was probably due to very low day and night temps: 15°C (59°F) and 16°C (60°F), respectively.
Let’s not forget that, throughout the cycle, there was an ongoing struggle with low temperatures. We think this really affected the size of the plants and their yield. However, in the final weeks, such cool air was actually a good thing and contributed to the stunning looks of the colas.
D: Absolutely Ravishing, If a Bit Anorexic
On Week 10, began the arduous process of disconnecting the Gorilla Cookies Auto girls from ‘life support’ one after another. The first to go was Plant #1. The grower would remove it from the Autopot system and flush it for 3 days with FloraKleen.
He would soon do the same for Plants # 2 and 4, but first they were to receive the final PK boost with GHE Ripen. Plant # 3 still lagged considerably enough to receive another round of defoliation.
All four looked marvelous: one of those instances where your nostrils dilate when you simply look at the picture.
And they really did exude the most seductive aromas. All four went through the final Ripen-FloraKleen routine and were chopped one by one, starting with #4 on week 11.
10. How to Properly Trim, Dry, and Cure your Gorilla Cookies Cannabis Harvest
After chopping down your crop, it’s essential to go through several post-harvest steps that help preserve the terpenes, THC, CBD, and other chemical compounds found in cannabis flowers which are what gives cannabis its flavors, aromas and effects while getting rid of chlorophyll that gives weed that harsh taste.
This means that after harvesting your plants the work is not over yet, you still have to trim, dry, and cure your flowers as they preserve the tastes and smells, and prevent moisture loss, keeping your weed always fresh and ensuring a better-quality final product.
Trimming Your Gorilla Cookies Cannabis Harvest
Trimming weed refers to the practice of removing all the leaves from the plant and flowers, and it’s among the most important post-harvest practices because it does not only improve bag appeal but can help prevent mold and improve the overall experience when grinding, rolling, and consuming your harvest. There are two different practices when trimming weed flowers:
- Wet trimming which consists of trimming before the drying process;
- And dry trimming which consists of trimming after the drying process.
Wet Trimming Gorilla Cookies Flowers
As you may know by now, wet trimming consists of removing leaves from the cannabis flowers before drying your weed. This method is usually not recommended because it might cause your flowers to overdry, which can affect the aroma, taste, and effect.
However, if your drying room is too humid, this method may be preferable since the cannabis leaves can lead to mold.
The Pros of Wet Trimming
- Helps prevent moldy flowers in humid drying rooms;
- Weed will dry faster;
- Dry more weed in less space on drying racks.
The Cons of Wet Trimming
- Fresh leaves can make it harder to trim if you don’t have the right tools;
- Fast drying can diminish terpene and cannabinoid content.
Dry Trimming Gorilla Cookies Cannabis
As you might expect, dry trimming consists of removing the excess leaves from the cannabis flowers after drying your weed. This is the preferred method for most growers (and even commercial growers) because it can help maintain the proper humidity levels in low-humidity drying rooms and if done correctly, results in better-tasting and smelling weed because it allows your flowers to dry slowly.
The Pros of Dry Trimming
- Can help maintain the right humidity levels in low-humidity drying rooms;
- Allows your flowers to dry more slowly, resulting in better flavors and aromas.
The Cons of Dry Trimming
- Cannabis leaves release moisture when drying which can cause mold;
- Dry, brittle leaves can make it harder to trim your flowers as they can get stuck on the trichomes.
Drying Rooms for Cannabis
The ideal drying room should be completely dark, with humidity levels around 55 to 65% and temperatures ranging from 15 to 21 °C. Depending on where you live, it can be quite difficult to maintain the right drying room conditions so make sure to invest in a hygrometer to precisely measure your drying room conditions and make the required adjustments if needed. In order to make the adjustments needed, you will have to invest in an AC unit, humidifier, dehumidifier, and maybe a small oscillating fan to maintain a light breeze in the drying room.
You can still get some pretty good flowers without these pieces of equipment but if you’re looking for the best quality possible, make sure to invest in these as they will help you prevent temperature and humidity oscillations, which you should avoid at all costs when drying. Also, keep in mind that direct light will damage the trichomes (which contain the terpenes and cannabinoids) so keep all light sources covered. This doesn’t mean you can’t open the door and check on the buds while they’re drying but make sure to avoid prolonged exposure.
How to Dry Gorilla Cookies Cannabis Weed
After deciding between dry trimming or wet trimming your cannabis flowers, it’s time to dry them. So depending on how you trimmed or plant to trim your weed, it’s time to opt between hanging the whole plant upside down or drying each individual bud on drying racks.
Hang Dry Cannabis Buds
Drying the whole plants upside down is the easiest way to dry your cannabis plants (if you have the right drying conditions) as the only thing you have to do is hang your plants upside down. The downside is that it takes more space but also saves you time as you don’t need to cut each bud individually. When drying this way, your weed can take anywhere from 1 or 2 weeks because there’s more plant material to dry.
Drying Racks for Cannabis Buds
If you opted for wet trimming, you will need a drying rack or a flat surface to place your cannabis flowers. Drying racks are circular racks made of a special mesh that improves airflow but due to the buds being cut individually, it’s essential to keep an eye on the buds during the drying period to prevent them from overdrying as there’s less plant material to dry. When drying in drying racks you can expect your cannabis flowers to dry anywhere from 4 to 7 days to dry.
Curing Gorilla Cookies Cannabis Flowers
When the drying period is over, it’s time to cure your cannabis flowers. This means that if you chose dry trimming, now would be the time to trim the flowers. Once your weed is properly trimmed grab some curing jars (aka airtight glass jars) and get curing. Remember it’s vital to use airtight jars to minimize moisture loss, preventing flowers from losing moisture too fast, which helps preserve the cannabinoids and terpenes found in cannabis.
Remember that the curing process depends from strain to strain and can take anywhere from 1 to 8 months or even more, depending on your personal preference. Keep in mind that in order to have your weed properly cured you should keep the humidity levels inside the curing jars ranging from 55 to 65%.
The curing process consists of pulling moisture from the center to the outside of the flowers, getting rid of the harsh chlorophyll taste, so you don’t want to do it too fast or too slow as this can overdry your harvest or cause mold.
How to Cure Gorilla Cookies Cannabis Flowers
Curing your weed should be done in a completely dark room that’s not too humid and has a stable temperature, to effectively do this you will need:
- Airtight glass jars;
- One hygrometer for each curing jar.
So start by placing your cannabis flowers in the curing jar but avoid plastic and wooden materials as they might affect your crop’s flavor. So go ahead and place the weed in the curing jars and close the jars. Remember that you should burp the jars from day one and it’s essential that you smell and touch the flowers. If you notice the flowers are soft it means that they’re still wet and if the flowers are too dry or hard to the touch, it means they're too dry, so this is where the hygrometer comes in.
In order to cure your flowers perfectly, make sure to place one hygrometer in each curing jar and make sure the humidity levels range between 55 to 65%. Now, if the flowers are overly dry, use a humidity pack to rehydrate the flower and if the flowers are too wet, remove the lid for a couple of hours to eliminate the excess moisture and replenish the jars with fresh air. The act of removing the lid for a couple of hours is known as “burping”, which takes us to the next topic.
Burping the Curing Jars
Since day 1 of curing and during the initial week of the curing process, you will need to open the jars (aka burp them) once or twice a day, anywhere from 30 minutes to a couple of hours. As mentioned before, this is used to remove the excess moisture and exchange the air inside the curing jars.
After burping the curing jars daily for the first week, you will have to continue burping them during the second week of curing but now burp them every 2 to 3 days. After this second week of burping your weed should be ready for consumption but this can vary from strain to strain depending on different things such as bud density. So if the flowers are not ready, continue burping every 4-5 days, eventually burping once a week or every 2 weeks. If you’re not happy with the results yet, continue curing.
Remember to smell your weed daily to detect mold development, if it happens. If you smell ammonia in your curing jars it means the flowers are not dry enough and mold will appear soon so bur your jars for a whole day and continue with the curing process. Keep in mind that as long as the curing jars are stored in a cool, dark room because temperatures between 25 to 30 °C can cause mold.
Expert Opinion by Jorge Cervantes - co-author
Gorilla Cookies Auto is an excellent example of the exchanged genetic development and how they are grown. Producers are very keen on the fast growth of these genetics since they offer high production. The specialist weekly drawn up in cooperation with Enzo Schillaci provides an overview of how each stage in a plant’s life is critical in order to get healthy plants and proper yield.
For instance, the guide mainly describes the other-worldly trichomes of Gorilla Cookies Auto which provide the strain its powerful impacts together with the nice aroma and style. It also gives the methods through which it can be done to work on these features and make the growers get the best out of the strains.
Propagation of Gorilla Cookies Auto is a very profitable business that unites elements of horticulture and genetics. It is an instructional guide on how to lead the cultivation, which in turn enables the gardener to have a good and productive harvest. Understanding the feature of each plant is crucial when it comes to adapting with your cannabis growing personality.
11. The Outcome
Gorilla Cookies Auto Yield
Bloombuster (A) obviously knew what he was doing. He managed to harvest 220g (7.8oz) in a very tight room and under a light that draws only 150W of power. It should be a source of inspiration for any cannabis horticulturalist with a limited budget and moderate goals.
He noted how vigorously his Gorilla Cookies Auto grew. Even after he snapped the main stem, she didn’t skip a beat and only formed a tremendous callus. It became like a hub for transporting even more nutrients. The growth (and the outcome) were slightly marred by a subpar nutrient formula with too little sulphur in it. However, the plant picked up pace in the final three weeks when the buds really filled out.
MrHightimes (B) brought in an amazing haul of 482g (17oz) of premium bud after a reasonably short flowering time of only 10 weeks from seed to harvest. His gram-per-watt result of 1.60 was the best among the four.
It took him 3 hours to manicure each plant, and he took a mental note to lollipop more next time because there was quite a bit of larf. A lot of it went out the door, though, and made a lot of people happy.
For drying his enormous harvest, he used a 3’x3’ tent, almost at full capacity.
Bigbush (C) was quite happy with his 167g (5.89oz), or 0.56 g per watt. Not a shabby result for a newbie gardener using a 2’x’4’ tent and a 300W LED fixture.
He said he loved growing Gorilla Cookies Auto from start to finish, but would do things differently next time. We would suggest resolving the temperature issue and learning how to maintain a flat canopy to really use the power of the light, especially during an autoflower flowering stages.
MyrceneCB1 (D) found the outcome disappointing. The yields ranged from 24g from the plant that had been accidentally topped to 74g from the slowest, but the most productive pheno. All in all, he harvested 214g (7.55oz) under a 550W LED, or 0.39g/watt.
We looked at the guy’s other grow cycles. He seems to be one of those restless types who keep changing tents, lights, mediums, giving their setup a complete overhaul for each new grow. His best attempt so far seems to be the first one (which he did in soil). The present grow—in Autopot—was a bit lackluster. Probably because it required more skill and getting used to. Hydroponic systems usually do.
The other issue with this grow was probably too much defoliation, pruning, and lollipopping in one go. Significantly, the one plant that escaped that fateful event—because she wasn’t mature enough at the moment—turned out to be the most productive.
Gorilla Cookies Auto Smoke Report
All four found the aroma of Gorilla Cookies Auto very fruity and sweet. The flavor of the smoke was even better, especially after a long cure. Freshly cured buds may have a peppery note and feel a bit harsh on the throat. When more mature, they get very creamy and smooth.
For Bloombuster, the most distinctive taste was that of spruce enveloped in creamy sweetness. On the exhale, he felt something resembling expensive wood. This delicious smoke created a complex effect of joyous creativity, relaxation, and focus. It also made him hungry.
MrHightimes’ buds were different—with more gassy and earthy influences, and, for Bigbush, they were plain sweet, fruity, and creamy.
MyrceneCB1 noted a hybrid nature of the high: this minty-tasting smoke with rich earthy undertones created an intense sativa rush which lasted for an hour, then mellowed out and turned into a relaxing indica finish.
This type of high is perfect for the evening when you can start with enjoying music, food, or TV and slowly wind down to eventually fall asleep. And, of course, a strain belonging to the Gorilla family is insanely potent wich was proven by official lab tests:
12. In Conclusion
These four grows showcased Gorilla Cookies Auto as a versatile strain. She did incredibly well in coco coir with both drip and hand watering, but also produced decent yields in an Autopot setup and in soil.
She also proved to be quite hardy—which is a must for modern autoflowers. In fact, Gorilla Cookies Auto prefers to be trained, even aggressively, to being left alone.
Just think twice about topping her. It may delay the onset of flowering and slow down the progress through different stages of flowering (see Grow A) or decrease the yield (see Grow D, Plant 2). Besides, the less invasive LST method usually allows achieving the same results—more flower tops, flatter canopy—with less risk.
None of the growers reported issues with mold, although two of them kept the temperature dangerously low and the buds were bulky and quite dense for everyone.
The seed to harvest progress of Gorilla Cookies Auto was also exceptionally uniform across all four grows. Ten to twelve weeks seem like a baseline, with 15 weeks as an extreme case, due probably to especially aggressive training. It means that this autoflower is stable enough for multi-plant grows, even in SOG or DWC.
So, Gorilla Cookies Auto is your safe bet for an easy and trouble-free grow, and the final result will be sumptuous and universally pleasing. Happy growing, everyone!
External References
- Potency trends of Δ 9 -tetrahydrocannabinol, cannabidiol and cannabinol in cannabis in the Netherlands: 2005-15, Tibor Brunt, Raymond Niesink, Addiction, 2015
- Marijuana Botany An Advanced Study: The Propagation and Breeding of Distinctive Cannabis, Robert Connell Clarke
- SEED GERMINATION AND SEEDLING GROWTH, Keith Luna, MARIANO MARCOS STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES, DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY, 2015
- Factors determining yield and quality of illicit indoor cannabis (Cannabis spp.) production, W. Vanhove, Wouter Vanhove, Forensic Science International, 212 (2011) (158-163)
